ON HUNTING 17 



III. 

 SEEING SPORT. 



WHEN last we parted the fox had been " viewed " away and 

 each of us had to decide what method he meant to adopt to 

 keep hounds in sight or see as much of the sport as he 

 could. Before tackling these important matters a word is, 

 perhaps, as well as to what you should do if, by chance, you 

 see a fox " break " covert and no one else is with you. If 

 you are anywhere alongside the covert, keep close to it, 

 not wide out in the adjoining field. The chief idea is to let 

 the fox get well away before you move or utter a sound. 

 If the huntsman can see you, just hold up your hat ; he will 

 come soon enough, that is if hounds are not busy with another 

 fox in covert. If the huntsman cannot see you, wait till 

 the fox is a good way off and then " holloa." If you do it 

 too soon the fox may double back, and that is a calamity, 

 because the first fox away is usually the best, as he thus 

 shows some dash, and probably knows where he is bound 

 for and will go there straight. Straightness is an essential 

 to all good runs ; unenterprising, short-running foxes are 

 a nuisance. I know a good sportsman who says he always 

 tries to say the alphabet to himself before he " holloas " 

 when he has viewed a fox away, but so keen and full of excite- 

 ment is he that he has never reached S yet. After you have 

 " holloaed " watch the fox as far as you can see him, note 

 the precise spot where he crossed a drain or went through a 

 fence. If the huntsman comes to your " holloa " and hounds 

 do not " settle " at once, he will want to know exactly where 

 you saw him last. If you try to explain and are not quite 

 clear, mistakes will occur, just as they did in the old musketry 

 school days, when we tried to fix a spot in the " indication 

 and recognition " practice. You may know just where the 

 fox went but not be able to point it out in a moment of 



c 



