"HOUNDS, GENTLEMEN, PLEASE! " 3 



It is true that there are hosts of good fellows who 

 come out " keen as mustard for a hunt," who ride 

 like sportsmen, who are ready to help the huntsman 

 in every way, and who " take notice," too (as nurses say 

 of their babies). If a holloa is heard when hounds 

 are at fault, one of these cheery horsemen is ready 

 to inform the huntsman of the fact, willing, too, to 

 ride away and find out if the shout conveys genuine 

 information ; in short, to play as sportsmanlike a part 

 as he knows how to do. But in many, if not most, 

 cases, the check has been brought about by the field ; 

 or, if not, would have almost immediately been recti- 

 fied by the hounds themselves, but for the presence of 

 the field ; and what the huntsman wants is not help 

 that he may hunt the fox, but all to assist in letting 

 hounds have a chance of hunting him. 



Let any one make a point of noticing the conduct 

 of the field when next a sudden check occurs after 

 a smart burst over a fair line of country. Hounds 

 have brought the line, let us say, well into a field, 

 and then suddenly throw their heads up. Motion- 

 less the huntsman stands, watching every movement 

 of his favourites, who, busy as bees, are flitting 

 hither and thither, casting themselves industriously. 

 Instinctively he holds up his hand, but in less than 

 a minute there is a crowd close behind him. That is 

 bad enough, for if a fox in flight (which is, as a rule, 

 a steady, self-contained pace), sees an object he mis- 

 trusts in front at some little distance he often runs 

 right back in his tracks before branching off to get 

 round whatever it is that affrights him, without 

 being seen. Hounds eager in pursuit and full of 



