HUNTING 59 



up, and he does not differentiate that in this case 

 the others are only a couple of hundred yards 

 away, and will catch the leader in a few seconds, 

 as soon as ever they hear it speak to the newly- 

 found scent. The special harm that is done is, 

 first of all, the good hound is made to believe 

 it has committed a fault in running the scent of 

 the fox, for how is it to distinguish between 

 the rate and cracks of the whip for running a 

 hare and those now bestowed upon it for run- 

 ning its legitimate game ? 



In the second place, when the rest of the 

 hounds race up to where they heard their com- 

 rade running, they meet it coming back with its 

 stern down, and a dejected look which says as 

 plain as possible, " Look out, or you'll catch it 

 from Bill like me ! " Animals are very quick 

 in observing signs, and taking the cue from each 

 other, and when the pack does get on that scent 

 there is sure to be dawdling, and a hesitancy that 

 may last two or three fields before it wears off, 

 and in the meantime the fox has travelled on, 

 and the scent become very w^eak. If the hound, 

 on the contrary, had been left alone, and the 

 whipper-in had just raised his cap to draw the 

 huntsman's attention if he was out of sight of 

 the hound before it actually spoke to the line, 

 the other hounds would have raced up and joined 

 the leader with a dash that would have gone a 

 long way towards catching the fox. Hounds 

 never seem to settle better to a scent than when 

 they catch up those who are pressing on before 

 them. 



To point the moral, two instances in recent 

 years are in my mind, on both of which occasions 

 there was quite a good scent. We had run one 



