ON BLOODING HOUNDS 115 



him before them in hot, concentrated fury, is really 

 so remarkable that I have wondered it has not been 

 oftener noticed in the profusion of hunting literature 

 that is set before us at the present day. 



The huntsman who is really fond of his work and 

 fond of his hounds — as, to do them justice, most hunts- 

 men are — will do all in his power to save his favourites 

 from disappointment at the finish, and, when short of 

 blood, the anxiety of that functionary towards the end 

 of a run is almost pathetic. It is then that the mur- 

 muring of some extraordinary individuals that are 

 to be found in every hunting-field will be pretty sure 

 to make itself heard. If our huntsman displays an 

 eagerness for the death of the fox he is termed 

 bloodthirsty, and the unthinking and ignorant critics 

 imagine that his anxiety is caused by a desire to run 

 up a " big butcher's bill " which will be trumpeted forth 

 at the end of the season, be published even in the 

 columns of the Thuyiderer, and so bring to him huge 

 credit as a huntsman and a slayer of foxes. The fact 

 is that few good huntsmen are thinking of themselves 

 at all in the matter. They know perfectly well how 

 every action of theirs is criticised, and being, as a rule, 

 wise men, pay not the slightest heed to anything but 

 the interests of their hounds, which, if the field only 

 knew it, are, after all, their interest also. 



What man is there who cannot criticise the hunts- 

 man and his work ? A season and a half's experience 

 often converts the youthful beginner into an authority 

 at the mess-table, club, or family circle on the whole 

 business that some very clever men spend a consider- 

 able portion of their lifetimes in mastering. " This is 



