238 THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 



otter a-swim. The keynote of the Master's tempera- 

 ment, then, must be doggedness and perseverance, else 

 he will infect with his own slackness the hounds, which 

 reflect their huntsman's every mood. 



It is with his committee that the Master's troubles 

 will commence, and, having commenced, continue. 

 Some one rude has called hunt committees an invention 

 of the Evil One. If this be their source, they certainly 

 do credit to his originality. With one member it is a 

 question of "sour grapes " ; with another of jealousy ; 

 with the third of personal antagonism ; with a fourth 

 of self-importance ; while a fifth is imbued with com- 

 plete ignorance of sport and its usages. Some Masters 

 undoubtedly enjoy brighter experiences, and find a good 

 sportsman or two on their committee to back them 

 through thick and thin, but such unselfish supporters 

 are sadly in the minority. The points of issue are 

 innumerable. One member will raise objections to 

 the Master advertising his meets. Another thinks that 

 he wears out hounds by hunting too many days a week. 

 A third has something to say about the way in which 

 the whip behaves to him in the field. A fourth objects 

 to the Master's drawing his stream unless he can be 

 there in person. If these be not the chosen grounds 

 of complaint, there are others as handy. Now the 

 Master is blamed for burying dead hounds instead of 

 boiling them into broth for the rest. This charge was 

 actually once brought against myself. On another 

 occasion, he is at fault in drafting some babbler or 

 waster from the pack, in which some member of the 

 committee happens to take a personal interest. AH 



