CHAPTER VIII 



ON BLOODING HOUNDS 



Beyond all doubt the most satisfactory finish to a 

 run with foxhounds is the death of the fox if run 

 into fairly in the open. 



When the anxious inquirers who have not partici- 

 pated in the day's sport receive the reply that " they 

 pulled him down in the open," satisfaction is at once 

 expressed, and the lucky ones who were in at the 

 death seem hardly more elated than those to whom 

 they tell the tale. The triumph is shared by all. It 

 is often noticeable, too, that hounds on these occasions 

 receive unstinted praise, which is by no means lavished 

 upon them when they have run a dead-beaten fox 

 to ground, or have lost him by some untoward accident, 

 some cunning wile, or by the sudden failure of scent 

 when victory seemed assured. 



It is not very often in the course of a season that 

 scent remains first-rate during the entire day, and in 

 a wild country, inhabited by really stout foxes, the 

 odds are decidedly in favour of the quarry. When 

 Reynard runs into a populous neighbourhood, is viewed 

 here and hoUoa'd there, and headed everywhere, he 

 gets bothered and baffled, and falls an easier prey ; 



Hounds, Qentlemen, Please. 9 113 



