Related article: remained a remarkably temperate
man. In order to preserve his
sobriety, without giving offence to
the rollicking members who as-
sembled at the Melton hunt
suppers, he secretly contrived to
have a small tub placed at his feet
under the table, and when he had
drunk what he considered his
proper allowance would quietly
empty his glass into the tub,
unnoticed by his more excited
companions, who remained en-
tirely ignorant of the device.
But if the darling of the Quorn
stood out from his contemporaries
as being neither a hard-drinker nor
gambler, yet like most Salopian
squires, he was dearly fond of a
I899-]
Ci
THE FLYING CH1LDE.
i»
247
sporting wager, and it was a
wager which caused him to accom-
plish what was undoubtedly an
exceptionally fine piece of endur-
ance and horsemanship combined.
Up till then an ancestor of his
friend, Mr. John Corbet, of Sun-
dorne, had been considered the
pride of Shropshire where specu-
lation might be concerned, having
wagered, so it is said, eight
thousand pounds that he possessed
the handsomest calf of any gentle-
man in the kingdom ; and there is
a picture at Sundorne Castle de-
picting this individual showing off
his leg to the admiring circle of
judges who have just proclaimed
him the winner.
Mr. Childe's bet, however, was
of a very different character, since
he wagered certain of his hunting
friends that he would ride from
London to Kinlet, a distance of
some one hundred and seventy
miles, in twelve hours. This chal-
lenge caused considerable stir in
the sporting world, and one fine
spring morning in the early
" eighties " — for the exact date of
the exploit is lacking — the rider
started from London shortly after
four o'clock, and dismounted at
Kinlet as the Hall clock was
striking four that same afternoon.
He galloped the whole way, hav-
ing, of course, relays of fresh
horses awaiting him on the road.
Time did not permit of him paus-
ing to take food or drink, but as
an insurance against thirst he
carried a cherrystone in his mouth,
and this served its purpose so
well that he reached his destina-
tion without the slightest appear-
ance of fatigue. The last stage
of his journey was attended by a
remarkable incident. On arriving
at Bewdley, six miles from home,
the rider found to his consterna-
tion that the central arch of the
bridge crossing the Severn at that
point had given way, owing to Glucotrol Xl 5 Mg an
exceptionally high flood, leaving
a breach in the roadway of some
feet in width. Nothing daunted,
and having no time to waste, he
turned his horse round and put
him at it. The animal cleared
the gap with a scramble, and thus
secured to his plucky rider the
wager which would otherwise
have been lost at the eleventh
hour owing to this most unfore-
seen of accidents. Remembering
the fuss that was made some few
years ago about the Austro-
Prussian long-distance military
ride, it is interesting to recall this
feat of endurance in man, if not
in beast, as performed by an
English country gentleman to-
wards the close of the last cen-
tury. Assuredly it is fully equal
to anything accomplished by the
Austrian and Prussian cavalry
officers — in their international
contest that took place in the
autumn of 1892.
It must not be supposed, how-
ever, that when Mr. Childe retired
from Leicestershire and perma-
nently settled down at Kinlet he
abjured the sport which had
brought his name into such re-
pute. In his own corner of Buy Glucotrol Xl the
county he immediately established
himself master of a new pack,
which must have hunted over a
very considerable portion of what
is now the Ludlow country.
Compared to the Leicestershire
vales, the rough, undrained sur-
face of the land around Bewdley
presents the most complete con-
trast possible to imagine, while to
mention two of the formidable
obstacles which it contains, there
is the Titterstone Clee Hill, scat-
tered all over with huge masses
of granite, and the Wyre Forest,
to take hounds into which is
to expect never to see them again.
Despite such drawbacks, hedging
him on either side, Mr. Childe's
new pack found plenty of sport,
248.
BAILY S MAGAZINE.
[April
and it was their master who
inaugurated the first efficacious
method of hunting the Clee Hills,
where there formerly existed any
number of foxes, having their
runs under the granite boulders.
Seeing it was utterly impossible
to stop these earths, the owner of
Kinlet hit upon the expedient of
having fires lit along the hills at
the time Reynard is supposed to
be abroad for food, in order to
cut off his retreat at daybreak;
and then in the morning, but at
a much earlier hour than that at
which the present generation of
hunting men are accustomed to
meet, some grand sport would
ensue. And as the significance
of these fires grew to be more
fully realised, they became the
signal for hundreds of the quarry-
men and miners, working in the
locality, to assemble and follow
the hounds on foot ; in fact, the
hunting of the Clee Hills eventu-
ally assumed the proportions of a
Shropshire carnival, and as such
endured to a comparatively recent
date. Neither did Mr. Childe
forget his old Leicestershire
friends ; many of these used to
journey down to partake of his
hospitality at Kinlet, and to put
in a few days' sport over this
very rough country ; while occa-
sionally the host would take his
guests over to Willey, where his
neighbour, Squire Forester, kept
Tom Moody's memory green by
treating them all to a repetition
of a favourite prank on the part
of his old huntsman, namely, a
run by moonlight.
For nearly a quarter of a cen-
tury did Mr. Childe pursue the
useful and peaceful life of an
English country gentleman, earn-
ing, moreover, something wider
than local renown as a skilful
agriculturist, together with the
esteem of all classes, as a good
sportsman, a kind landlord, and