Wifk the York Packs 291 



then stood in the paddock at the kennels. There had 

 been an extremely heavy dew, which had not yet 

 evaporated under the trees, and in consequence this fatal 

 disease seized upon the puppies that had been placed there 

 for the sake of shelter from the intense heat. 



There was a singular fatality that dogged the York and 

 Ainsty after the great accident. William Powter, the 

 second Whip, who was not on board the ferry-boat at the 

 time of the disaster, met with a fatal accident during the 

 following cub-hunting season. I had just been in con- 

 versation with him, and showing him a horse that I was 

 riding, a four-year-old called " Kettleholder," who had been 

 heavily backed for the Hunt Cup at Ascot earlier in the 

 summer, and for the Cambridgeshire the year previous ; a 

 horse that was beautifully bred, being by " Kettledrum," 

 winner of the Derby, out of the flying " Ellermire," the 

 dam of " Elland," the winner of the Ascot Vase. After 

 looking at him Bill jumped a fence, and cantered on round 

 the end of the covert, and was never seen again alive. He 

 was found a little later on the far-side of a fence, lying 

 with a broken neck, though what had happened nobody 

 could tell, as no one had seen him at the time. 



Sir George Wombwell became the new Master of the 

 York and Ainsty, with Peter Collinson as his Huntsman, 

 and they again were succeeded by the Hon. Egremont 

 Lascelles and Squires. Alas ! another fatal accident hap- 

 pened, the huntsman's horse kneeing a low stile near 

 Marton Village, and breaking his rider's neck in the fall. 



Such disasters, following so quickly one after the other, 

 threw such a chill over the Hunt that it was years before 

 the country seemed to emerge from the cloud that over- 

 shadowed it. 



