82 HUNTING THE FOX 



In the meantime the riders will have carried the 

 Huntsman and Hounds clean past the Fox, who, 

 if he has the luck not to be seen lying down, and 

 the sense not to get up until his enemies are out 

 of sight, will save his brush. The golden rule on 

 these occasions is never to take Hounds off their 

 noses unless it is absolutely certain that they can 

 get a view, as when the Fox is crawling across the 

 middle of a hundred-acre field. Of course if the 

 Fox is heading for a covert known to be full of 

 fresh Foxes, or for an open earth, the tour de force 

 of lifting the Hounds must be tried. This was 

 done with success one evening when Hounds had 

 been hunting a ringing Fox for two hours with a 

 poor scent. The first whipper-in viewed him dead- 

 beat making his way straight for a large woodland, 

 where he was nearly sure to put up a fresh one. 

 The orthodox practice had to be abandoned, 

 because, with failing light and scent, the Hounds 

 could not have hunted up to him before he gained 

 the stronghold for which he was heading. The 

 whipper-in was sent on to keep the Fox in view 

 and to try to head him off from the covert which 

 lay about a mile away. The Huntsman took the 

 Hounds off the line, galloped them on, and these 

 two men played into each other's hands so cleverly 

 that the dog Hounds knocked their Fox over just 

 outside the wood — and came home happy. On 

 another occasion the lift was tried, but failure was 



