Officers and Hunt Assistants 269 



Now he runs through a field where cattle or sheep are 

 feeding, to destroy his line by entangling it with the scent 

 of the tramping beasts. When a check occurs under such 

 circumstances as this the huntsman is considered justified in 

 lifting his hounds smartly forward. It is only another trial 

 of his judgment. In all the confusion, which way has the 

 fox gone ? Thanks to experience and the quick hint of 

 instinct, the huntsman in most cases knows to a certainty. 

 Once more he brings order out of chaos, and hounds are 

 again settled to the line. Now the moves in the game are 

 made more rapidly, and Renard, growing more tired, has 

 less choice where to turn. He takes to water, swimming 

 the brook with the hounds close behind him. Ten minutes 

 more of riding, and then Bluebells, Forrester, Bunco, Tinbush, 

 the oldest and trustiest noses in the pack, who, like the wise 

 old hound in Somerville's Chase, have until now been 

 hanging in the rear, " niggards of their strength," are seen 

 charging to the front with renewed energy. The hunts- 

 man knows the end is near. The fox's strength is sinking. 

 The scent grows weaker, and only the older hounds can 

 follow it eagerly, to be sure, since they know by experience 

 what its weakness portends. 



Now, if never before during the game, must the hunts- 

 man have his wits about him. More foxes are lost when 

 they are dead tired, especially with a fast pack of hounds, 

 than are captured. At such times Renard makes his last 

 trick move against the hounds under their very noses, 

 and if it were not for the woodcraft of the huntsman 

 would get away nine times in ten. There is another check 

 of all the hounds, save old Bluebells and Forrester. The 

 huntsman plunges ahead, for not an instant is to be lost with 



