66 THE HUNTING FIELD 



of irrevocable wildness whenever an opportunity might offer 

 itself." 



All packs, however, must have a beginning, and the following 

 may afford consolation to Masters of newly set up ones: — 



"There is an old story told," says Mr. Vyner, " of the Beau- 

 fort hounds, when that pack was being first formed many years 

 ago. A new draft of hounds which had arrived on the previous 

 day were let out into the paddock to be inspected, when they 

 commenced running the crows, which frequently fly skimming 

 along close to the ground in windy weather ; and, as the old 

 kennelman who had the care of them declared, that he believed 

 they would have never been stopped, if they had not, by the 

 blessing of God, changed for a jackass." 



But to the Whip— 



We oftener find a " tool " of a Whip than a " tool " of a 

 Huntsman — perhaps because they have not so many oppor- 

 tunities of exposing themselves as Huntsmen, or perhaps because 

 Whip " tools " are blighted in the flower of whipper-in-hood, 

 and never have a chance of blooming into Huntsmen. We 

 have had a letter from a friend, informing us that the "cake" 

 of a Huntsman we described, who used to exclaim in bewilder- 

 ment on coming up at a check, " A dear, whichi\'er waj- can he 

 have gone ? " — " which way do you think he has gone, Mr. 

 Brown?" — "which waj' d.o you Mr. Green?" — had an orna- 

 ment of a Whip, who never by an}' chance rode over a fence, 

 and the genius having chased a hound to the confines of a 

 field would sit craning and cracking his whip, hallooing " Get 

 away, Jiound ! get away ! " the hound, of course, pursuing the 

 same vagaries in the next field as he had done in the one from 

 which he had been chased, until interrupted by our friend again 

 cutting round, full grin, at the gate, and repeating the same 

 farce over again. We have seen non-riding Huntsmen do not 

 amiss, but a non-ridmg Whip will never do. Indeed, we know 

 a gentleman, an ex-Master of Hounds, who sa\'s that " riding 



