144 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN 



head back to the nearest earth he has come over 

 which was open, and go to ground, unless the 

 whipper-in is desired to clap back quickly and get 

 there fost and stop it, or stand on it, if, as in a 

 neighbouring country, the laws of fox-hunting do 

 not allow a whipper-in to stop it. But it is no 

 uncommon thing when a fox heads back in this 

 way to an earth, if the whipper-in gets there 

 first, for the fox to be killed immediately on the 

 earth, so very nearly do they calculate their re- 

 maining strength. This knowledge and recollection 

 of the fox ha\ang passed over earths which are 

 supposed to be open, mil be a guide for a hunts- 

 man to make a cast, if beaten out of scent, by cold 

 hunting back. 



In the first place, it will be necessary to find 

 your fox, which you will best do by drawing up 

 wind, or he will find you, and be off*, if a good one, 

 before you are aware of it ; and this, was there no 

 other, would be a sufficient reason. Hounds 

 naturally draw up wind to any scent or drag of a 

 fox, and early in the season it is of the greatest 

 consequence to young hounds, if, when some are 

 running riot, most hkely down wind, behind the 

 huntsman, they can hear his voice, and then a rate 

 and a smack of the whip from the whipper-in sends 



