52 A HUNTING CATECHISM 



followers. Strangers out for the first tinae do 

 not always feel comfortable when asked to gallop 

 over rough ground, with rocks and holes every- 

 where concealed in the thick heather, and yet 

 often those whose hunting is confined to such 

 districts, and to whom use has become second 

 nature, feel just as uncomfortable when a fox 

 takes them down into the vale below and they 

 are required to jump unwelcome fences ! 



There is one boon so great that its value cannot 

 be estimated, not only to the nation at large, but 

 also to every hunt — the fearful scourge of rabies 

 has no longer to be feared, thanks to the courage 

 and determination of Mr. Long in stamping it 

 out once and for all — the most valuable piece 

 of real statesmanship that has been done in this 

 generation. The memory of this achievement 

 will ever remain a monument to his wisdom 

 in persevering to its attainment against the 

 opposition of an interested faction, who grumbled 

 at the uncontrolled freedom of their pet-dogs 

 being interfered with. There is no longer this 

 danger to be dreaded, when puppies are out 

 at walk, or hounds left out when hunting, and 

 in a few years the ravages of this terrible disease 

 will possibly be forgotten. Yet in several in- 

 stances whole packs of hounds were destroyed 

 through this cause. 



Within the writer's recollection in the autumn 

 of 1867 the Bedale hounds returned one evening 

 from hunting, and about seven o'clock a wet 

 and draggled hound turned up at the kennel, 

 which the feeder admitted, thinking it was one 

 of the young hounds that had been out that day, 

 one or two of whom had not come home with the 

 pack. He fetched a light, and stooped down 



