20 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN 



give half he is worth for one, and then, when it is 

 so valuable, few men have coolness enough to take 

 the best means of profiting by it, by riding with 

 his hounds up to the spot, and coolly, distinctly, 

 and most deliberately inquiring where the fox was 

 seen — the identical spot, if possible — which way 

 he was going, where he came from, and how long 

 since ? For obvious reasons, the person who halloos 

 is over-anxious to tell his tale, and if hurried will 

 point out so-and-so, scarcely knowing what he is 

 about. Besides this gives the hounds time to 

 get their wind, and put their noses down, instead 

 of flying beyond the scent, or taking the scent- 

 heel ; and if the time does not agree, which is 

 often the case, though the question is not even 

 asked, the huntsman can then leave it, and return ; 

 for by going off with the scent at once, he would 

 be getting on one, either fresher or staler than 

 that he was hunting. It must be a very young 

 hand who has not found out this, but old heads 

 forget it. 



Also when a huntsman takes his hounds to a 

 halloo, where a fox has crossed a ride in cover, 

 he should, on ascertaining the spot, pull up ten 

 or twelve paces before he gets to it, the hounds 

 being at his horse's heels, and by turning his 

 horse's head out of the road the same way the 

 fox went, he will get them in on the side he wished ; 



