THE EIGHTH DUKE 



wrote to the Duke, asking to be permitted to buy 

 some of the Badminton hounds. He received a 

 reply to the effect that the hounds would not be 

 sold, though the Duke would be happy to present 

 him with a couple. At the same time the Duke 

 asked to be informed on several points in con- 

 nection with the sport of wolf hunting. The result 

 was an invitation to go to see for himself. Ac- 

 cordingly the Duke, Lord Worcester, the Hon- 

 ourable M. Russell, and Captains Graham and 

 Wyndham, crossed the Channel and stayed at 

 Rieul I'Espoir, a hunting box lent by Monsieur 

 Chabot. 



Monsieur Auguy and Count Roget de Chezelles 

 were also the Duke's guests. In due time the 

 horses and hounds arrived and were much admired. 

 But the question naturally arose, would these 

 hounds enter to the scent of the wolf. On this 

 point my own experience in India was that hounds 

 which had already been entered to jackal would 

 acknowledge the line of a wolf, but that no drafts 

 from England would do so at first ; the reason 

 of this being that the scent of the jackal and of 

 the wolf is not nearly so strong as that of the fox. 

 At first the Duke's hounds, steady from all riot to 

 their own quarry, would have nothing to say to 

 the line of the wolf. When, however, they had 

 seen the French hounds kill a wolf, and had 

 assisted in the breaking up, they took readily 

 enough to the scent. Nevertheless, the attempt to 



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