264 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT 



avoiding an interregnum. As Mr. Brunskill brought 

 his own pack of hounds, Mr. Singer disposed of his 

 at Rugby in the spring. 



The new master was a Devonshire man and no 

 stranger to the country. His own property, Buckland- 

 Tout-Saints, is situated within its Hmits, and, though 

 hunting mostly with the Dartmoor when at home, he 

 had often been one of a South Devon field. He was 

 also well known throughout the county as a good 

 cricketer, having taken up the game with enthusiasm 

 first at Clifton College and afterwards at Exeter 

 College, Oxford. Hunting came as a natural instinct 

 to him, for he first began to follow hounds at the age 

 of seven years, and never afterwards lost an oppor- 

 tunity of getting out with any pack that happened to 

 be within his reach. His earliest experience of carry- 

 ing the horn was acquired with a pack of beagles 

 when a boy ; later, he kept and hunted the South 

 Pool Harriers. In 1905 he became master of the 

 Exmoor Foxhounds and in the following season 

 transferred his pack to the Silverton country. Being 

 young and keen, he naturally hunted the hounds 

 himself and continued to do so when he came to the 

 South Devon. 



It is not given to every young huntsman, who is a 

 light-weight and a good rider, to restrain his impetu- 

 osity and a natural ambition to right his hounds 

 quickly when at fault ; but Mr. Brunskill was more 

 partial to letting his hounds hunt the line than to 

 casting them, being, perhaps, of the same opinion as 

 the old Irish huntsman who rebuked his young 

 master with the remark : " My lord, the most 

 ignorant young hound in the pack knows a great 

 deal more about hunting than you or I." As a 

 consequence, Mr. Brunskill's hounds were expert at 



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