6 FOX-HUNTING. 



go without some strength. Blow your horn, that the 

 field, and your whips in particular, may know that he 

 is gone. These should cheer and not rate to cry; hounds 

 should be taught to regard the first tongue thrown as a 

 sound to he flown to with pleasure not a signal to he 

 obeyed by crack of whip. When they settle to the 

 scent, keep well on their line, with your eye to the body, 

 as the least likely to overrun it. 



Should they check, let your first cast make good the 

 head ; to know where he did not go is next in import- 

 ance to the knowledge of where he did. Bear in mind 

 this is the most trying of all difficulties; the first check 

 is the moment of greatest peril. Hounds rarely check 

 upon a fox that is forward, unless from taint ; if he has 

 turned, he has been headed, or has fixed upon a point 

 which he has determined to make good. Do not now 

 get among your hounds, nor suffer the whips to scatter 

 them. Get them speedily back to the spot up to 

 which you know they brought him ; and, once there, let 

 them spread and use their natural sagacity. If you re- 

 quire to cover a large space, make two divisions, cast- 

 ing one yourself, your first whip doing the same with 

 the other. Let it be ever present to you, that, while you 

 are at fault, your fox s not ; and that, as the distance 

 increases between you, the chances multiply fifty-fold in 

 his favour. When hounds are to be stopped, the less 

 threatening the better ; they should not be allowed to 

 associate the ideas of fear and the field together. When 

 hallooing to a scent, take care that you do not drown the 



