THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 67 



apart from his own hunting — should cost him nothing ; 

 and the master of a pack which is nominally a sub- 

 scription pack, but where the difference between the 

 subscription and the actual cost of maintenance is so 

 great that a large sum must be forthcoming from the 

 master's pocket. Then there are variations in the 

 shape of masters who are their own huntsmen, and who 

 are therefore not in a position to exercise all of the 

 master's ordinary duties in the field. 



There are hunting people who are of opinion that 

 the position of each and every master should be the 

 same, and that, whether a man receives a subscription 

 or not, it is his duty to acquiesce in every suggestion 

 made by an important member of the field. There are 

 those, too, who appear to think that they have almost a 

 right to dictate which coverts should or should not be 

 drawn on a certain day, who are angry if they arrive 

 late at the meet and find that hounds have moved off, 

 who often interfere if hounds are taken late in the 

 afternoon to a covert which is not on their way home, 

 and who, indeed, frohi the beginning to the end of the 

 season try to fix their will upon the master, instead of 

 allowing him to make his own arrangements. 



Such men, sometimes territorial magnates, are to be 

 found in many hunts, and it is with such men that the 

 master of the average subscription pack is often placed 

 in a most difficult position. There is a very old saying 

 to the effect that he who pays the piper may call the 

 tune, and the man who hunts a country at his own 

 expense is, as a general rule, allowed far more of his 

 own way than the master of a subscription pack. But 

 hunting men generally should understand that the 

 master of hounds is in the same position as the captain 

 of a ship, and whatever programme he chooses to adopt 



