INTRODUCTION 



get from kennels to the meet. The men are in 

 kennel at least an hour before the hunting pack 

 turns out, so we know that hounds get no rest 

 after that hour, which is probably shortly after 

 two a.m. Hounds would normally be back in 

 kennel after a day of this sort within an hour or 

 two of midday. For the rest of that day, apart 

 from the disturbance — to hounds — of ordinary 

 kennel routine, they are unable to get genuine 

 rest on a hot summer's afternoon. The result is 

 that after a fortnight, or even a week of such work 

 — and I have many instances in my old hunting 

 diaries of both — you get a jaded pack, a tired 

 staff, and a weary Master. And I have been 

 unfortunate enough myself to have never seen 

 even a hunt before eight a.m. 



If anyone will guarantee to put hounds on to 

 the line of a travelling dog otter on a given day I 

 would be there with hounds every time. But 

 otherwise, no thank you. 



As to otterhounds versus foxhounds, I am 



convinced that finance, or rather the lack of it, is 



15 



