THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 79 



drawn. A consultation with the field in such a case 

 does good rather than harm, for members of the hunt 

 will see that the master is anxious to oblige the greatest 

 number, and will also recognise his feelings in the 

 matter, viz. that it is of little or no consequence to the 

 workings of the hunt which of these three or four 

 coverts should be drawn. 



The vacillating master, who comes to the meet in the 

 morning with no fixed idea in his mind as to which 

 coverts he intends to draw, is always unsatisfactory, and 

 more likely to annoy his field and the covert owners 

 near his place of meeting than not. It is often the case 

 that a meet of hounds is fixed in a village, or at cross- 

 roads where numerous coverts are equidistant, and 

 when the master of undecided views arrives at one of 

 these places he is likely to go to the first covert which 

 he hears mentioned at the meet, quite regardless of 

 whether it is the proper place to go to, and whether his 

 drawing it first will be approved by his field. 



Then, too, if the master is known to be lacking in 

 decision, and unlikely to have formulated any fixed 

 plan of campaign, he is sure to be asked to go to two 

 or three, or possibly even more different places, and at 

 such times people will make the most unreasonable 

 demands. Some masters are, like Mr. Puffington, 

 entirely in the hands of their huntsmen with regard 

 to the draw, and when the master has been an un- 

 decided man, and the huntsman has been gifted with 

 sound common sense, this has been found to answer 

 well ; but the master who leaves such matters to others 

 is not fit to be a master, and the master who relies upon 

 his huntsman for everything is in similar case, and 

 should resign at the earliest opportunity. 



There are not many hunt servants who are fit to be 



