FOX-HOUNDS 245 



improvement in the hound afterwards may be the 

 cause of constant regret. But there are always 

 stalhon hounds to be found equally good. 



There are certain faults which should never be 

 overlooked, let the hound be ever so good in 

 every other way. A mute hound is unpardonable ; 

 if he should be in every other respect perfect, so 

 much the greater reason for drafting him. He 

 finds your fox in cover, and goes on with him ; the 

 rest of the pack get together on this line, presently 

 come to a check, then get away and another 

 check. You see a man at work, and ask, " Have 

 you seen a fox ? " " No ; but I seed a whitish hound 

 go along as fast as he could go just now." This is 

 our mute friend who goes away without saymg a 

 word ; the consequence is that his having passed 

 along the hne of scent, although the leading 

 hounds can hunt it, and do a certain distance, yet 

 at times they find the hound's scent as well, and 

 do not much hke it. Eventually, nine times 

 out of ten, it brings them to a check every five 

 hundred yards ; and, if it is a bad scent, much 

 oftener. As an old sportsman in the New Forest 

 once said to the writer, who had remarked to 

 him on a hound having been first all day : " I'll 

 tell you how it is ; d — n him, he runs mute." 



