128 THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 



first and foremost, but my own opinion, which I offer 

 for what it is worth, is that a wire fund is neither more 

 nor less than a premium on putting up wire ! Even 

 rabbit-netting round a covert will give the huntsman a 

 nasty fall if he is not looking where his horse is going 

 to. I recollect myself getting, on one occasion, what 

 is politely termed in hunting language a "regular 

 smeller" in this way, for my horse did not see the 

 netting, but jumped off a bank and caught his fore feet 

 in it. Down I went, with my face in a ploughed field, 

 and the sensation was as if I was never coming to a 

 standstill. 



Australian, Canadian, and American horses are all 

 taught to jump wire, by the way ; and if this curse 

 gets much more prevalent in the old country, our own 

 horses will have to undergo a course of similar in- 

 struction. It should not, however, be forgotten that 

 any sensible horse will of his own accord step over 

 wire if he can only see it. 



Earth-stopping, Finds, Litters. — Old engravings show 

 a picturesque but extinct type, the old earth-stopper, 

 generally with an old shaggy pony, a terrier, and a 

 lantern. It was his business to retire the night before 

 the hunt to any part of the country, no matter how 

 great the distance, and to see to the stopping out of 

 foxes in the locality that was to be hunted the following 

 day. He did his work very well, far better, indeed, 

 than is done nowadays, for he knew every earth in the 

 country, and always stopped at just the proper time. 

 Very few keepers do that, but stop too early or not at 

 all, often making no effort to do so until five or six on 



