SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 401 



permitted at the place of meeting ; but these should 

 cease and cigars be thrown away as soon as the pack 

 is thrown into the covert. It is also expected of the 

 " field ^^ that they allow the hounds to go first and 

 settle down upon the scent before they take up the 

 running or riding. This is a very difficult rule to 

 be enforced by the master when all are so nervously 

 impatient to be off and away. 



Rivalry in horsemanship is the great evil in the 

 hunting-field. Harry Hasty does not relish the idea 

 of being cut down by Tom Harkaway ; he is on the 

 look-out to take the lead of him, and malgre entrea- 

 ties or remonstrances from master or huntsman, goes 

 away at racing pace with the leading couples. What 

 concerns him is only how to get a good start and 

 keep it. What are hounds to him ? He rides after 

 them, it is true, because the recognized fashion is to 

 do so ; but he is evidently intent upon using this 

 kind of riding to hounds — or, more generally, riding 

 over them, unless the pace is good — for a means to 

 an end. A steeplechase would be infinitely more 

 to his taste. Probably, most probably, the horse he 

 is riding has to undergo this ordeal at the close of 

 the hunting season. Poor brute ! merciless man ! 

 TiHimporte. Harry Hasty has a point to gain in the 

 betting ; as for hounds, they ought to take care of 

 themselves, and get out of his way. Now what is a 

 master of hounds or his huntsman to do with such 

 hurry-scurry fellows as these? They cannot be 

 caught, perhaps, till the mischief has been done ; and 

 by that time, in the game of ''' follow my leader,^^ a 

 score more will be in the same catalogue of first- 



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