88 THE QJJORN HUNT 



who was with Mr. Smith for about sixteen years, and 

 hunted the hounds on certain days in the week in 

 Hampshire. In criticising his master, then dead, George 

 Carter is made to speak thus : — 



He would ride, for you see he were a wonderful horseman, 

 but his ways and mine didn't always agree. I liked to find a fox 

 and have an hour and a half with him or more, and then kill him 

 if I could, and somehow or other I could generally do that ; but 

 you see, sir, Mr. Smith used to say, " What's the good of cadd- 

 ling about after a fox all day?" and if he hunted one for forty 

 minutes and didn't catch him, why then he gave him up and went 

 and tried for another; and as soon as he had tired one horse, he 

 had another to get on, and so it didn't signify ; but / always 

 knew what Mr. Smith's hounds were. Why, then, I remember 

 one day we met at Weyhill ; Mr. Smith came out as a gentle- 

 man, and I hunted the hounds. Well, sir, we found a fox 

 at Ramridge . . . and just before we came to Chute Lodge 

 there were a bit of plough, and I see a hound called Nabob 

 feathering up a furrow and none o' the others could own it ; 

 but I know'd he were right, so I just said quietly, " Heic, Nabob, 

 heic." 



" What are you heicing for there ? " says Mr. Smith. 



" I beg your pardon, sir," I says, " but you see Nabob has 

 got the line ; he can't speak to it on the plough, but as soon as 

 we get on the grass they will all open." And sure enough, sir, 

 as soon as we got to the park palings, and through, away they 

 went, and we killed our fox after a good hunting run. 



Such were George Carter's remarks ; but then no 

 man is a hero in the eyes of his valet. 



On the Quorn country becoming vacant, Mr. Smith 

 decided to take it ; but it is a curious coincidence that 

 neither in Sir J. Eardley Wilmot's book, nor in any 

 paper or magazine, is it revealed under what circum- 

 stances Mr. Smith came to take the country. In Nor- 

 thamptonshire and Oxfordshire he was well enough 

 known : but it is nowhere to be discovered what reason 

 prompted him, then without experience, to embark on 



