72 



hunt servant to attain one of these prizes of the pro- 

 fession and in spite of inexperience no young aspirant 

 to fame would be Hkelyto refuse the offer. 



In my humble opinion every huntsman should have at 

 least one season in a woodland country, where he must 

 trust to his hounds and allow them to hunt a fox for 

 themselves. He will then realize that in nine cases 

 out of ten they can hunt a fox without his assistance. 

 This is a lesson that will impress itself on his memory, 

 and which he will not easily forget when in later life 

 he finds himself at the head of three hundred horsemen 

 and the pack at a check. This is a critical moment, 

 very trying to the nerves. The crowd are anxious and 

 impatient to be galloping on, a fact felt and known 

 by the man carrying the horn. The novice who has 

 earned a reputation for quickness as a whip thinks the 

 moment has arrived to show what he can do as a hunts- 

 man. He has heard men condemned for being slow, 

 and is determined not to err in that respect, with the 

 result he never allows his hounds to cast themselves. 

 Of course, he may have the good fortune to hit off the 

 hne, when the irresponsible element in the field will 

 give him unstinted praise, and he will be confirmed in 

 the error of his ways. Time, however, will find him 

 out, he will repeatedly lose his fox, and hounds when 

 they check will look to him for assistance instead of 

 putting their heads down to try for themselves. The 

 prestige he gained will quickly evaporate and the men 

 who were loudest in acclaiming him a great huntsman 

 will be the first to condemn him as an arrant duffer. 

 A huntsman's reputation may be quickly and easily 

 made, but it is just as easily lost. Any one who has been 

 out hunting half-a-dozen times considers himself com- 

 petent to criticise the man handling the pack. 



