204« SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 



catching liim before he can gain your neighbour's 

 covert. Catch him if you can then, by all means, 

 and as quickly as you can ; and this is one of the 

 occasions upon which a little extra excitement is 

 permissible, if not thought quite orthodox by some 

 old sportsmen of the regular hunting school. 



We remember arousing the ire of an elderly 

 gentleman of this class by an enterprising act akin 

 to the one above related. We had been mnning 

 and hunting our fox alternately for about an hour 

 and twenty minutes over a variety of ground, 

 parts holding a fair scent, part fallow, with little 

 or none, when he set his head straight for a large 

 covert in our neighbour's country, which, withoufc 

 some change in our favour, he was bound to enter. 

 Being on high ground at this time, an old sports- 

 man cried out, pointing with his whip, " Yonder he 

 goes, my young master, over that common ; see 

 how the crows and magpies are ducking down 

 upon him! Notwithstanding, he does not appear 

 to be very much in a hurry, and with such a scent 

 you cannot overhaul him to-day.'' 



*' Then," we answered, " we must endeavour to 

 make the scent a little better." 



" Ha, ha ! " he replied, " sooner said than done ; 

 he'll beat you now, to a dead certainty." 



Our monkey being up, we took the hounds off 

 their noses, setting them down the hill, nearly at 

 the top of their speed, to a green lane, at the end 

 of which we guessed our fox must cross, in a line 

 with the covert, he being at that time rather to the 

 left of it. The ruse succeeded ; the hounds caught 



