266 Silk and Scarlet 



was quite a City of the Plague. The bitches missed, 

 and out of five-and-forty couple of puppies, fully hali 

 died of distemper or yellows, before they were sent to 

 walk, and it was a good year indeed which saw nine 

 couple put forward. Luckily there were plenty of 

 good drafts to be had. Trickster and Castor, whose 

 stock, with their fine power and slight lack of length, 

 looked quite of a family, lent no little strength to 

 the Puckeridge drafts, as also did the Trusties with 

 their dark sandy bodies and light-coloured heads ; and 

 when Mr. Smith returned to his earlier standard, 

 George Carter always found Mr. Farquharson ready 

 for the large drafts, which were full of Rockwood and 

 Ranter blood. George's old Yardley Chase experiences 

 with Mr. Grantley Berkeley had taught him the value 

 of the Rockwood strain, and he did not forget it when 

 he was at the Duke of Grafton's. The bitches were 

 the best, and as they were remarkably tough and 

 lengthy, they crossed well with the upstanding and 

 rather short Ranters. Mr. Farquharson had Rochester, 

 Rioter, Roderick, and Richmond all black and white 

 Ranter brothers, among which Rochester had the 

 most power, and went straight through a covert if 

 there was no fox. The beautiful grey-backed Rarity 

 from Rakish by Assheton Smith's Conqueror, and 

 who gets her wonderful deer-like neck from her sire 

 Roderick, showed well for Tedworth at the sale ; and 

 Rampish, another daughter of Rakish, and Autocrat 

 were equally fine specimens of a cross with the Beau- 

 fort Falstaff and Rufus. Adelaide, the dam of that 

 twenty-four-and-a-half inch Autocrat of the kennel 

 goes back to Horlock's Lounger and Foljambe's 

 Albion ; and all Dorsetshire used to call out for 

 her dam Rival, when they came to a check on the 

 road. 

 Road-hittinff '^^^ talent of road-hitting descends 

 like many others ; and Will Goodall had 

 a striking instance of it in Goblin by Harold, both of 



