68 HUNTING THE FOX 



fellow, but he never kills his Foxes. It is all over 

 with him at the first check." If he had followed 

 the Thomas Smith principle, the worst that the 

 most inveterate crabber could say would be, " Oh ! 

 he is a bit slow ; I can't make out how he does it, 

 as he often seems to cast back ; but somehow or 

 other he kills his Foxes." To sum up, then, the 

 things to be remembered by the Huntsman in 

 making a cast are, first, the place where the leading 

 Hounds last had the scent ; second, to follow the 

 general direction of circles up and down wind 

 already described ; third, to keep every Hound 

 either in front of him or well away on his flank ; 

 fourth, never to force the pace, but to regulate it 

 by the pace of the Hounds, bearing in mind that, 

 with a burning scent, they can be cast almost at a 

 gallop, and that with a poor scent they can only be 

 cast at a walk. (It may here be remarked that 

 some Huntsmen always make their casts at the same 

 pace, usually the trot, which must surely be a 

 mistake, resulting in either casting over the line 

 or else in causing the pack to straggle when they 

 should all be together ; the cast should be made 

 at the highest speed at which cohesion can be 

 maintained) ; and fifth, to keep his whipper-in 

 inside, and not outside the circle. The Hounds 

 will always revolve on the circle of which their 

 Huntsman is the pivot, if he will say a word to 

 them from time to time when they lose sight of him 



