MASTERSHIP OF STAGHOUNDS 231 



at the end of the season, and can make use of 

 a knowledge of agriculture, whether inherited or 

 acquired, which is usually not at the disposal of 

 the majority of his field. If he has a fast and 

 handy horse he can also race for gates at critical 

 moments, and, given that the fence on either side is 

 anything of an ally, can do real good by drawing his 

 horse across the gateway. This especially applies to 

 a gate on to a road, where hounds on a moderate 

 scent are sure to find themselves in some perplexity or 

 other. 



I have already said that the individual m a held 

 must be passively obedient. If he gets into trouble, it 

 is quite possible that he may not know how he has 

 offended ; but he should remember that nine times 

 out of ten the Master uses him as a sort of dump- 

 ing-ground for humours due to quite different causes, 

 such as a stupid second horseman, a shooting-party at 

 the Duke's which has obliged him to alter his fixtures 

 for the next fortnight, a murrain amongst his cattle, or 

 a sudden outbreak of measles in his nursery. It should 

 be borne in mind, too, that a milk-white horse, fond of 

 jumping, is certain to get him into a scrape. 



A Master of Hounds should pay his local bills 

 regularly and answer his business letters at once, get 

 to know the farmers and gamekeepers, try to see some- 

 thing of both in the spring and summer time, and, 

 however perplexed about what to do or not to do, let 

 him pretend to have made up an adamantine mind. 



