HUNTING 193 



composed of all the rogues, drafted about February 

 from many high- class kennels in England. They 

 joined in the cry of Mr. Lo veil's pack (those that 

 were not drafted for muteness), enteDed and led 

 by the one or two couples he had that had hunted 

 deer the previous season. Most of them were 

 revelling on the scent of what they believed to 

 be riot, and there were always a few beautiful 

 old dogs finishing their last season who declined 

 to do this wrong (except when catching time 

 was close at hand), but lent all the time a stately 

 air to the proceedings. Some of these were high- 

 class stallion hounds, but they never did a 

 hand's turn of work at deer-hunting. All the 

 same, it was wonderful what good runs Mr. 

 Lovell got occasionally out of this scratch pack. 

 But it was quite clear to me, for I was no novice 

 as to fox-hunting, and had also seen a little of 

 the hunting of the wild red deer down West, 

 that the sport merited a better sort of establish- 

 ment than Mr. Lovell had been tied down to. 

 And mainly, too, because I had seen enough to 

 realise that, by the nature of the New Forest 

 country, it is impossible for one pack to interfere 

 with the sport of another. The covert is so 

 abundant, the habits of the various beasts of 

 the chase so different, that there could be no 



doubt but that there is room for all, and to spare. 



N 



