SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 401 



permitted at the place of meeting ; but these should 

 cease and cigars be thrown away as soon as the pack 

 is thrown into the covert. It is also expected of the 

 "field" that they allow the hounds to go first and 

 settle down upon the scent before they take up the 

 running or riding. This is a very difficult rule to 

 be enforced by the master when all are so nervously 

 impatient to be off and away. 



Rivalry in horsemanship is the great evil in the 

 hunting-field. Harry Hasty does not relish the idea 

 of being cut down by Tom Harkaway ; he is on the 

 look-out to take the lead of him, and malgre entrea- 

 ties or remonstrances from master or huntsman, goes 

 away at racing pace with the leading couples. What 

 concerns him is only how to get a good start and 

 keep it. What are hounds to him ? He rides after 

 them, it is true, because the recognized fashion is to 

 do so ; but he is evidently intent upon using this 

 kind of riding to hounds or, more generally, riding 

 over them, unless the pace is good for a means to 

 an end. A steeplechase would be infinitely more 

 to his taste. Probably, most probably, the horse he 

 is riding has to undergo this ordeal at the close of 

 the hunting season. Poor brute ! merciless man ! 

 n'importe. Harry Hasty has a point to gain in the 

 betting ; as for hounds, they ought to take care of 

 themselves, and get out of his way. Now what is a 

 master of hounds or his huntsman to do with such 

 hurry-scurry fellows as these? They cannot be 

 caught, perhaps, till the mischief has been done ; and 

 by that time, in the game of ' /f follow my leader," a 

 score more will be in the same catalogue of first- 



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