272 Cross Country with Horse and Hound 



man's ability to carry out the Master's plans. The feeding 

 of thirty or fifty couples of hounds is no small matter. To 

 keep them all healthy, to doctor the ailing, nurse the 

 invalids, bandage the wounded, care for the bitches in 

 whelp, for the puppies at birth and in the trying age of 

 distemper, requires a man particularly fitted and qualified. 

 There are, further, the conditioning of hounds as the hunt- 

 ing season approaches, special supervision while they are 

 hunting, and the keeping of the peace among them at all 

 times no light matter. 



According to Badminton, in hunting five days in a week, 

 as many packs do in England, seventy-five couples of hounds 

 are required ; for four days a week, fifty-two couples ; two 

 days a week, twenty-eight couples. The annual consump- 

 tion of food for seventy-five couples is " forty tons of oatmeal, 

 three tons of dog-biscuits, and a hundred and fifty horses." 

 These figures may go to show further the responsibility of 

 the officer in charge of kennels and their inmates. The 

 right apportionment of food is a delicate business. Over- 

 training may develope temper and jealousy and other dis- 

 agreeable traits. Altogether hounds need as much watching 

 and care as a lot of children would. Tinbush and Rol- 

 licker hate each other ; an old feud exists between them. 

 Tinbush snaps at a puppy, and Rollicker comes in, think- 

 ing now is his time to pay off an old grudge. Bradshaw, 

 the peacemaker, attempts to correct them both, and in half 

 a minute a dozen hounds are fighting to the death. These 

 battles are sometimes very desperate, and it takes a cou- 

 rageous man to go among the combatants. More than one 

 kennel huntsman has nearly lost his life in attempting to 



