’Tis you alone are gone:
The work you did, the debt we owe,
Live on.”
Indeed his work lives on. He had warded off the most severe attacks of the Humanitarian League, and he had set the examples for Head Masters to come. The late Head Master continued the good work, and the Humanitarians have long since ceased to trouble the E.C.H.
G. W. Barclay, son of E. E. Barclay, who is Master of the Puckeridge Foxhounds, was a wonderful heavy-weight runner. He was Master in 1909-10, and had a good season. Champion tells a story of how, at a meet near Bray on the other side of the river, Barclay found himself confronted by an enormous dyke. He plunged boldly in, but, being heavy, stuck near the far side. Champion crossed with difficulty, and by dint of a great deal of pulling and tugging Barclay emerged on the right side, minus his beagling shoes. These were finally rescued by Champion, and the hunt proceeded. Afterwards, when they were sumptuously entertained by, I think, Col. Van de Weyer, Barclay borrowed a pair of flannel trousers which fitted him passably well as he stood up. When, however, he sat down to tea there was a loud crack closely resembling the tearing of flannel, and Barclay backed hastily from the room amid much confusion on his part and laughter from the rest of the party.
Previous to Barclay, S. G. Menzies had hunted hounds for two seasons with signal success, killing twenty-four and twenty-five hares. Not only was he successful in the hunting field itself, but also he was extraordinarily popular with the farmers. He used to write and thank the farmer on whose land was found any hare that gave them a real good hunt.
But Menzies really made his name as a killer of foxes. He hunted five foxes in all, killing three and running two to ground, one of which was evicted and killed. The first fox to be killed was on Nov. 17th. Here is the account in the Beagle Book.
“Went to Dorney after the foxes. We failed to find, however, either in Dorney Court or in the Water Oakley plantations, but, on drawing a turnip field at the back of the village, a fox was viewed away, and getting hounds on close behind raced away over Cippenham Big Field towards Chalvey Marsh. However, he swung right-handed for Mr. Tarrant’s land and passed Butts to the Line. Here he headed left for Chalvey and crossed the Line close by and went to Willowbrook, where he lay down in a thick fence. Putting him up, he made for the Slough Road, but being headed doubled back through the pack, over Mesopotamia and into the Lower Master’s[8] garden, where he got under some logs. However, hounds pushed him out into Jordan and over the Field, eventually killing a full-grown cub in the Fives Courts, after a very fast hunt of 30 minutes. Truly a triumph for beagles. Point of 2½ miles.”
The other great run after a fox found close to Dorney resulted in a kill in the open close to where he was found after a hunt of 55 minutes, very fast, in which a great deal of country was crossed.
K. S. M. Gladstone, who still keeps a pack of beagles in the New Forest, has sent me a letter in which he describes his hunting experiences at Eton.