130 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. 



in view. At the most it consists of six or seven horse- 

 men riding fifty or a hundred yards apart, and even its 

 followers become so scattered and detached that in 

 anything like an undulating country they are completely 

 hidden from observation. If you do catch a glimpse of 

 them, how slow they seem to travel ! and yet, when you 

 nick in presently, heaving flanks, red faces, and excited 

 voices will tell a very different tale. 



Trotting soberly along, then, with ears and eyes wide 

 open, carefully keeping down wind, not only because 

 the hounds are sure to bend in that direction, but also 

 that you can thus hear before you see them, and take 

 measures accordingly, you will have ridden very few 

 miles before you are gladdened by the cheerful music 

 of the pack, or more probably a twang from the horn. 

 The scent is rarely so good as to admit of hounds 

 running for thirty or forty minutes without a check; 

 indeed, on most days they are likely to be at fault more 

 than once during the lapse of half an hour, when the 

 huntsman's science will be required to cast them, and, 

 in some cases, to assist them in losing their fox. Now 

 is your time to press on with the still undefeated hack. 

 If you are wise you will not leave the lanes to which I 

 give you the credit of having stuck religiously from the 

 start. At least, do not think of entering a field unless 



