THE HUNTSMAN 125 



Perhaps the quality which I should rank first 

 as necessary for a huntsman is that of being 

 able to ride across-country. No matter in what 

 style it is done, if the man can be, and always 

 is, in the position to watch his leading hound, 

 you may forgive in him a want of horsemanship 

 or an ugliness of seat. It is most important that 

 a huntsman's nerve should be good, because his 

 one idea and thought should be his hounds or 

 the fox they are pursuing, whereas if his nerves 

 are at all shaky he will be thinking of the fence 

 and his chances of getting safely over. Nothing 

 in the shape of a fence, except wire, ought to 

 stop him when he views his hunted fox and has 

 the chance of putting hounds on better terms. 



Keenness is, of course, essential in a huntsman. 

 Slackness in the man will soon beget slackness in 

 the pack. No man who hunts hounds ought 

 to go home satisfied unless he has killed his fox, 

 however good the run may have been, and any 

 one returning to kennel content without having 

 accomplished that end is not properly keen. 

 Patience and perseverance in hunting I should 

 class as qualities that are born of keenness, for 

 no one will persevere who is not really keen. 



