3 8 A YEAR OF SPORT AND NATURAL HISTORY. 



the athletic exercises of their youth, occasionally join the subalterns 

 in a run over the heath-covered ridges near camp, or through the 

 hop gardens and meadows Farnham way, while grave and reverend 

 seniors have at times taken a turn with the Christchurch men, 

 but one would not advise anybody who cannot go the pace, to 

 follow either of these two packs habitually. Though hares 

 double and always come back, if possible, to the point whence 

 they started, one cannot always be sure of being there at the 

 right moment, except by running the same line as hounds or near 

 it. On lofty, open downs a man may at times stand still and 

 watch the chase circling hither and thither at his feet, or cut in 

 now and then as it comes towards him, but this, after all, is only 

 playing the part of a spectator, and not of a sportsman. 



The real enthusiast in this kind of hunting will always prefer a 

 moderately level country to hills, and if fences of strong growth 

 alternate with broad ditches or brooks, the crossing of which can 

 only be compassed by a brilliant effort at some risk of immersion, so 

 much the better, for then both sinew and pluck come into play, 

 and a man who holds his own with the pack throughout may take 

 such pride in himself as fox-hunters who ride straight are known to 

 entertain when they hold their own in a quick thing with a fast pack. 

 Given good condition and sound constitution, one may, in fact, 

 find as much pleasure in hunting with Beagles on foot as in the 

 most costly form of sport. I have always admired as the truest 

 sportsmen those who, not being able to afford a stud of hunters, 

 are content to follow hounds on foot. They, at any rate, show 

 that, with them, love of the chase is not dependent on adventitious 

 aids. They are not buoyed up by excitement in sympathy with 

 high courage of noble steeds, and if rivalry enters into their 



