198 FOX-HUNTING 



huntsman is casting round to cross the scent, not 

 to when he is holding them forward. 



With a fair pack of hounds, a good scent and 

 a straight fox, the work of a huntsman is com- 

 paratively light, but it is not often these conditions 

 are met with on the same day. It is in the 

 case of a failing scent, a fox that is a long way 

 ahead, and over fields dotted with cattle, that the 

 huntsman with genius comes to the front. The 

 moderate man gets farther and farther behind his 

 fox until he has to give it up, whilst a master of 

 the craft is ever pushing on, until at last his skill 

 and cunning reach a triumphant conclusion. 



Amongst those who have not studied the subject, 

 there has grown up an idea which is utterly 

 opposed to the true principles of fox-hunting. 

 The idea is that a fox should be hunted to death, 

 which of course is quite wrong. A foxhound 

 should never be allowed to hunt, when there is a 

 chance of him running or of getting him nearer to 

 his fox. This erroneous impression is not a thing 

 of recent birth, but has been handed down by 

 some old fox-hunter who began life by following 

 the hare, and who could never forget his early 

 training. This old fellow posed as an authority, 



