HUNTSMAN 21 



but had he ridden on quite to the spot, they were 

 just as Ukely to take it heel as not, and more so, 

 if the fox was going down wind. Simple as this 

 plan is, many runs have been lost by not adopting 

 it, for they may have taken the scent-heel through 

 the whole side of the cover. 



Much cheering and hallooing to hounds by a 

 huntsman is generally disapproved of, but in large 

 woodlands it keeps hounds together ; sometimes 

 it makes your hunted fox fly, and also is the cause 

 of other foxes breaking another day, for they 

 recollect it, and having got well off before, try it 

 again. Few men have lungs to stand it, nor 

 would they do it from choice, but the fact that 

 hounds will come to a good shrill view-halloo 

 quicker than to any horn in the world is beyond 

 a doubt. Such is the effect of a real good cheer 

 on hounds, that they actually jump round, so 

 excited can they be made by it. Not so with a 

 horn ; it is true they will come to it, which is 

 enough. If it is used frequently, it is thought by 

 some to lose its effect on hounds. But in bad 

 scenting countries, when it is necessary to cheer 

 hounds a great deal to get them together, and to 

 make them draw or hunt, the more assistance a 

 man can get from his horn the better, for his voice 

 cannot last if his constitution does ; therefore 

 he had better even use his horn occasionally in 



