The Field-Master and the Field. I35 



should be employed. Where it is not so employed 

 the Field-Master or the .Secretary should make it his 

 business to see that the patient watchers below are 

 duly informed and not left behind— martyrs to a 

 sportsmanlike devotion to duty. 



The same may be said of them at a kill, which 

 may have taken place half a mile or more above 

 them. When they hear the ''rattle" blown they 

 will of course recognise what has taken place. But 

 there is generally no reason why they should have 

 been " out of it " for the last quarter of an hour, 

 and they should have been properly notified that 

 they might come on. Oversights of this sort on the 

 part of the Master are bound to react on the be- 

 haviour of his Field. 



The Otter killed, everyone gets as near as he 

 cares to do to the scene of the worry, in order that 

 he may join in the chorus of '' Whoo, whoop!" 

 wherewith rejoicing is made at the happy consumma- 

 tion of the day's business. While the Otter is being 

 weighed and the trophies cut off, the Field will assist 

 in keeping hounds and terriers — and sometimes the 

 crowd — off by forming a hollow square : holding 

 their poles horizontally above the level of their knees 

 and keeping their legs close together. They should 

 not strike or kick at the eager, baying hounds, but 

 should gently keep them back by pressure of 

 leg and pole. The last rites performed and the 



