MODERN CONDITIONS OF HUNTING 29 



size, and so many of the men and women who go out 

 hunting care so little for the sport as sport, that when a 

 fiasco occurs with a bagman they are often none the 

 wiser. A fox is seldom seen by many of the field, and 

 if he is found, hunted, and killed in covert, it is good 

 odds that no one sees him except the hunt servants, 

 and possibly the master. Thus there is always excite- 

 ment when a fox is found, and if he is quickly brought 

 to hand there are always some of a big field to rejoice 

 at the mere fact of a kill, while those who suspect the 

 real truth will often keep the suspicions to them- 

 selves. 



In one good country, which for obvious reasons we 

 shall not particularise, we were trotting on to a meet in 

 company with the master, and never having been in 

 the exact locality before, we interrogated him as to the 

 likelihood of sport. He was not sanguine as to the 

 morning draw, and candidly told us that hounds would 

 probably find quickly, but that he doubted the capa- 

 bilities of any foxes in those coverts he was likely to 

 draw first. He had realised the situation exactly ; 

 hounds found a fox which ran three hundred yards, 

 and when the huntsman picked him up he shook a 

 shower of chaff out of his coat. A second fox ran 

 from one little spinney to another a quarter of a mile 

 away. He had a broken bit of rope round his neck, 

 and hounds would not break him up. At a lawn meet 

 in quite a different country we saw a quick find in some 

 laurels, and what appeared to be a genuine, good- 

 looking fox broke away in view of a big field. He 

 crossed a small park, and slipped under a gateway into 

 a stubble field, securing a capital start, but he was 

 quite dazed, and ran twice round the little enclosure he 

 found himself in, never making any attempt to leave. 



