86 HORNS, HOLLOAS, DOG LANGUAGE 



till he counts twenty, and then out rings his rattling 

 view-holloa, and if he has "a good pipe," as Mr. Jor- 

 rocks expressed it, the sound is most inspiriting, and is 

 warmly admired. But what are the odds that every 

 other man who has seen the fox also does not then 

 add his quota to the noise ? The whipper-in, of course, 

 if he knows his business, has placed himself as near 

 as he can to the spot whence the fox broke covert 

 before tallying him away ; but it will be noticed that 

 the other horsemen who have viewed the fox and 

 think it is incumbent upon them also to shout, raise 

 their voices from various different places, though a 

 little reflection should tell them that though hounds 

 are supposed to come away to a holloa, they are not 

 wanted except where the fox broke, and therefore 

 they had better have remained silent. 



Indeed, though admitting the exhilarating sound of 

 the view-holloa, and the necessity for its vigorous use 

 at times, the " silent system " when getting away with 

 a fox is the one that commands the admiration of the 

 writer. If the huntsman can see the whipper-in when 

 the fox goes away — as he so very often can — why raise 

 the shout at all ? Why not raise the cap only ? Even 

 if the whipper-in is invisible to the huntsman, but his 

 cap-in-air is seen by the field, a word from one of the 

 horsemen to the wielder of the horn will bring him 

 out, and possibly with the body of the pack at his 

 heels without flurry, noise, or confusion, and with no 

 over-excitement among the hounds ; and then it is 

 that he has the real chance of getting well away 

 with his fox. 



Mark, when you have an opportunity, kind reader 



