A POSTSCRIPT ON HOUND WORK. 73 



taking on a new pack, be fortunate enough to chance on a 

 few weeks of good scent, his fortune is made, if he has skill 

 to fail back on when scenting conditions are against him. 



I admit I am not one of those excellent sportsmen 

 who hunt only for hunting's sake. I like the ride, and, 

 if I am lucky enough to be close to hounds, enjoy pace 

 and straightness in a run. Pure hound work and the use 

 of the horse as a vehicle, to keep me in a position from 

 which I can watch hounds is not my idea of the game. 

 If it were, I should hunt on foot with a pack of beagles. 

 Of all abominations commend me to following foxhounds 

 on foot ; it is like running after your hat when blown off 

 in a gale of wind ; you hare after it, and just as it is within 

 reach off it goes again. Just so in foot hunting ; in the 

 slowest hunt you arrive breathless at the first check, only 

 to see hounds away again the next minute. There are good 

 sportsmen who do it, but they are made of that stern stuff 

 which will allow a man to flog for hours a stream which 

 in the memory of living man never held a trout. 



A good huntsman seems to instil into his hounds affection 

 and confidence. He feeds them himself, and makes much 

 of them on all occasions. He does not go into the kennel 

 at feeding time with a whip, but, wearing his kennel coat, 

 lets his hounds jump up on him. I have seen a pack at the 

 meet follow his horse and look up to him and watch his every 

 movement. Never have I seen a good huntsman take a 

 hound by the stern and beat him for riot or any other fault ; 

 they rate but never hide hounds. If chastisement has to 

 be given, he leaves that to his whips. Hounds come to the 

 huntsman for protection and comfort. If huntsmen beat 

 hounds they say to themselves : " Where am I to go ? ' 

 If a huntsman wants hounds he goes and fetches them, he 

 does not have them rated or driven to him by his whips. 

 And he never " holloas " them from a distance, but when he 

 sees that they have done trying for themselves and want his 

 assistance, he goes straight to their heads and without noise, 

 or, getting their noses up, casts them in a body. When a 

 huntsman seems to be trying to catch the fox himself, his 

 hounds are usually inclined to let him try, and stand looking 

 on doing nothing. What seems to be the essential of a good 



