34 British War Dogs 



more or less roadless condition, and the inhabitants in the 

 wilder regions were thus enabled to live securely by lawless 

 means of supply, the soldiery, and, indeed, all the respect- 

 able members of society, regarded these tracking hounds 

 as part of the machinery for clearing the land of desperadoes, 

 i and every method of following a trail was carefully studied. 



Those who were pursued, also took all the " tricks of the 

 trade," so to speak, into account, and, from their point 

 of view, sought out every sort of means to counteract the 

 successful working of the hounds, and made use of every 

 obstacle, which it was known would divert them from the 

 trail. 



It is a common belief, that if the fugitive crosses water, 

 that the trail can no longer be followed, and this is so very 

 often, unless those who are working the hounds, have 

 some sort of understanding of the method of assisting 

 them to overcome this obstacle. The only way to proceed, 

 is to take the hounds across the river either by boat, or 

 to swim them, and cast them again and again on the oppo- 

 site bank, until they pick up the trail again. This has 

 sometimes to be done for a considerable distance down the 

 river, as the fugitive may have allowed himself to drift 

 down-stream with the current, in order to confuse the 

 hounds still further. In the case of a lake, or still water 

 of any sort, the fresh cast will have to be made both up 

 and down the opposite bank. Well-trained, eager hounds 

 will quite understand the desire of their keepers to assist 

 them, and will energetically seek the scent again on the 

 other side. I have even known unusually eager hounds, 

 where the scent has been hot, plunge into the water on their 

 own account, and swim to the other side and commence 

 their fresh search for the broken trail. This is, however, 

 exceptional, as the marauders of old well knew, and hounds 



