INTRODUCTORY 17 



to hunting, and it is always the unexpected that 

 comes to pass. Those who are connected with 

 the hounds have a special interest which the 

 ordinary follower lacks, and the latter sometimes 

 feels the proceedings to be tame ; but the master 

 or huntsman, however bad the scent, has the 

 pleasure of watching the working of individual 

 hounds. In countries which are called fashionable 

 it would be impossible for a large field to ride 

 near enough the pack to watch what each hound 

 was doing, and therefore it can be easily under- 

 stood that slow hunts are not very popular. I 

 have often heard it said by those who affect a 

 knowledge of the sport, that only about a third of 

 those who go out hunting care for anything except 

 the riding. This may be true in a measure, and 

 yet it is not altogether true. It is not a matter 

 that is capable of proof ; but I believe that ninety 

 per cent, of those who go out are chiefly influenced 

 by a love of the sport. They may be ignorant 

 and uneducated in the mysteries of the art, and 

 therefore unable to fully appreciate some things, 

 but the love of hunting is there, and only requires 

 developing. Some men have that love and do not 

 know it : it is hid below the surface, and only 



B 



