270 



his ears open. Wherever he hears the leading hounds 

 " speak " he should turn his eyes in the same direction, 

 and as soon as reynard " breaks covert " with the 

 hounds in his wake he should put his hand to his 

 mouth in order to condense the sound and shout at 

 the pitch of his voice in shrill hunting accents, " Tally- 

 ho"! ''Gone away"! in order to give the other riders 

 around the covert the alarm. Unless he is well 

 mounted and thoroughly acquainted with the district 

 he should never take the lead ; but if he know the 

 country and can depend on his horse there is no 

 reason why he should not show the way, for hunting, 

 like all other outdoor amusements, is a leveller of 

 rank, and the distinguished M.P. is placed precisely 

 in the same position — so far as leading the chase goes 

 — as the plucky young farmer, or the village smith. 



WHO SHOULD LEAD THE HUNT .? 



The lead is always open to the best horse and the 

 straightest rider across country, but when the district 

 is strange to the rider he will find it advantageous to 

 follow some trusty old farmer who knows the way to 

 ride across country, and nine times out of ten he will 

 not be far from being in amongst the first half-dozen 

 riders at the "death." It is very rarely that a right 

 specimen of a game old hunting farmer — one of the 

 true " John Peel " type — is ever beaten at straight 

 cross-country work with hoUnds when he knows the 

 district he is travelling over. 



