THE ART ITSELF 171 



the covert into the open. A couple having heard 

 the whistle are already on the line, and you gallop 

 up with the others to join them, blowing your 

 horn to let the loiterers and the field know you 

 are away. 



You were right to make a certain amount of 

 noise coming out of covert so that every hound 

 might hear, but now they are ' all on ' you had 

 best be quiet. Hounds are very excitable at the 

 start, and if excited still more by much halloaing, 

 they will be half a mile beyond the scent the first 

 time the fox turns. 



There is little, however, to bother you now ; 

 the second whip was very smart in stopping the 

 portion of the pack that were on another line in 

 covert, and not one has been left behind. A 

 straight-necked fox is in front of you, and hounds 

 are racing with an apparently breast-high scent. 

 Your one object now is to keep the leading 

 hound in view, and to this end you ride some 

 forty yards on one side of the pack. These are 

 not the sort of fences you have been accustomed 

 to in the fashionable countries, and you must 

 ride with judgment if you intend to be with 

 hounds. Unknown to you, a reputation for hard 



