THE HUNTSMAN'S POINT OF VIEW 203 



admire the sportsmanlike generosity of the occupier of 

 the land, but he should have remembered that the pro- 

 fessional huntsman has to play the strict rules of the 

 game. 



The majority of the Masters of Hounds who employ 

 professional Huntsmen are hard riders and are gener- 

 ally sufficiently forward to be able to note what hounds 

 are doing, or I should rather say what the pack is 

 doing. But it is only the huntsman, or a whipper-in, 

 who knows what each individual hound is doing. 

 Now hounds, like men and horses, have their stale 

 days as well as their keen days, and it requires an 

 expert, who knows the special characteristics of each 

 hound in the pack, to distinguish during a run between 

 the stale hounds and the keen hounds. During the 

 journey from the kennels to the meet, the huntsman 

 has had the opportunity of judging what individual 

 hounds are likely to distinguish themselves during the 

 day, and a fortiori what hounds he can depend upon in 

 the event of a check. In ninety-nine cases out of a 

 hundred the Master has not had this opportunity, but 

 has driven to the hunting-fixture in his dog-cart or his 

 motor-car. Ghosts of our grandfathers ! What would 

 Mr. Assheton Smith have said if he had seen an M.F.H. 

 driving up to the meet on a motor-car ? Motor-cars 

 and cycles in the hunting-field are as obnoxious to 

 the Hunt servants as they are to the farmers. What 

 with kicking horses, careless riders, and carriages, the 

 lot of the huntsman at the meet has never been a happy 

 one. If you add to his anxiety by inflicting upon him 

 the terrors caused by " cads on castors," then you must 



