HUNTING THE FOX 51 



There never was a greater fallacy. Huntsmen who 

 adopt this practice are sometimes called quick, 

 until they have lost Fox after Fox and eventually 

 find that their reputation has disappeared without 

 any one being able to give reasons in writing. 

 The only occasion when the Huntsman should have 

 his Hounds kept close to him by his whipper-in, 

 and make the pace himself, is when he makes up 

 his mind to go to a holloa, and rightly wishes to 

 prevent the Hounds hunting any line until he has 

 laid them on to the Fox he means to hunt. When 

 he determines to go to a holloa, he should go and 

 fetch his Hounds, distract their attention from 

 what they are doing, and tell them in language 

 about which there can be no mistake, that he is 

 going to lay them on to a scent. 



But even now he should not get ahead of the 

 Hounds. He should carry them with him in his 

 hand, so that he may be able to lay them all on to 

 the line together. 



And there is much fine art in laying Hounds on 

 to a line. The manner in which it is done may 

 make all the difference in the world to the day's 

 sport, because, if it is attempted in a haphazard, 

 unscientific fashion, it will almost surely result in 

 either dragging them over the line without hitting 

 it, or in " that fatal piece of bungling, hitting it 

 heel- way," the most heart-breaking of all exhibi- 

 tions. In order to avoid this the Huntsman should, 



