278 WOLF-HUNTING. 



hits for those are the cardinal points in a hound's character 

 I'll never draft him for his uncomely looks." 



" Quite right, too," I replied. " The chase of the present 

 day, however, in your country and ours is so very different, that 

 a hound in every respect qualified for your work would probably 

 very soon find himself ' out of the game ' in an English fox chase. 

 Pace is the first consideration with us ; and a hound must need 

 be straight in his limbs and clean in his growth, or he could 

 never blow his fox in forty minutes, and, above all, keep clear of 

 the horses pressing on his very stern. These, with condition, are 

 the indispensable points required in a modern English fox-hound ; 

 and if, on a flag-inspection, the puppy lack them, he is never 

 given the chance of showing what merits he may possess as a 

 chase-hound : he is drafted at once, and either goes to some 

 inferior pack or to the colonies. So, as I scarcely need add, 

 many a good hound, throaty and out-at-elbow faults supposed 

 to be incompatible with speed is parted with in this way." 



" No doubt about that," said the Louvetier. " A throaty 

 hound almost invariably possesses a good nose, and, as I have 

 often proved, a hound, though crooked in his legs as a dachshund, 

 may be a rare one to drive for all that. But if you are so parti- 

 cular in your selection of hounds, the breeding and rearing of 

 them must be a heavy item in the cost of producing a first-rate 

 pack." 



"Very true. Forty or even fifty couple of puppies are annually 

 sent to walk to replenish the wants of a single grand pack, out of 

 which number, after due trial and examination, both in kenne* 

 and afield, when they come up, perhaps not more than twelve 

 or fifteen couple are admitted as entries into the regular pack ; 

 the remainder, as I have before stated, are drafted without a 

 scruple." 



u Ah, well," said the Louvetier, as if lost in astonishment at 

 the boundless wealth of the English people, " a master of hounds 



