I have no records of this season at all, and so must pass it over without comment. The only thing we do know is that near the end of the Half the Oppidans ran a drag to Salt Hill and invited the Master and whips of the College Beagles. It was at this drag that the followers were regaled with champagne and sandwiches, a custom which had become a regular one. And here the amalgamation of the two School packs was proposed. But I will leave the account of this for another chapter.
THE SORT OF DAY WE ALL KNOW.
CHAPTER II.
THE COLLEGE HUNT.
The College Hunt was founded in 1857 by R. H. Carter with J. A. Willis as his whip. It is a great misfortune that from this year until 1863, when the Journal Book was started, we know very little about it. Carter hunted them for no less than three years, which proves at least that he was an enthusiast. His pack consisted of all kinds of nondescript “dogs”; there was no standard of size, and report has it that it included a retriever.
AN OLD-TIME BEAGLER.
The pack was kennelled by one Ward in the Playing Fields, and hunted drags chiefly, but also wild hares when they were found. Sometimes they turned out bagged rabbits. One thing however we do know. They made an agreement with the Oppidan pack somewhere about 1859 by which the Oppidans took the country west and the Collegers the country east of the Slough Road.