238 FOX-HUNTING TYPES 



the beginning of the day to the end of it, be always 

 careful of the hounds ; he will give them room at all 

 times. On the road when going from covert to covert 

 he is sure to be within sight of the pack, but never 

 " treading their tails off " in the culpable manner one 

 so often sees. Huntsmen like their hounds to spread 

 about on the road when it is clear, and have no wish 

 that they should be herded along like a flock of closely- 

 packed sheep. At the covert-side your sportsman is 

 keen to watch the behaviour of the pack just as they 

 are thrown in, know^ing certain symptoms in their 

 demeanour w^hich at times will tell pretty surely that 

 they have a fox inside the fences. When he is found, 

 our friend who rides to hunt becomes " dumb as a 

 drum with a hole in it," to use Mr. Sam Weller's simile, 

 or at most will hardly elevate his speech above a 

 whisper, but his eyes are alert and he has lots to 

 think about, and it will be generally found that 

 he has secured a start. When hounds check, his voice 

 will never be raised in noisy clamour, nor will he 

 move his horse about, but he watches with intensest 

 interest every movement of hounds and huntsman. 

 He is hunting the fox in his own mind, and it is of 

 this check and such-like incidents of the chase that 

 he will talk when all is over. 



The mischievous practice of turning off the road 

 when going from covert to covert, and schooling over 

 the fences alongside it, will never be committed by 

 him, it is hardly necessary to say. The " frolic home 

 after a blank day " is now, as it ought to be, a thing 

 of the past, for in these days unnecessary riding over 

 fences is much to be deprecated ; and, if hounds are 



