Foxhounds 131 



words but one, when American fox-hunters start 

 out for a night with the hounds and the ladies 

 express an intention of joining. " He goes fast- 

 est who goeth alone " is not a principle in an 

 English country house party, but it is in Ameri- 

 can fox-hunting. The ladies of the South and 

 Southwest do ride to hounds sometimes, but when 

 it comes to a real run, I have heard their pull-back 

 influences condemned too often for me to assign 

 any poetry of chivalry to the fox-hunter's gospel. 



An Eastern M. F. H. who has hunted in 

 England, in our Atlantic States, and in the 

 South, lets me quote to this effect : — 



" The English hound is taught to run as a 

 pack, not to do individual work. The pack is 

 taken to a cover in which a fox is marked, so 

 to speak, where the earth has been stopped up 

 the night before so that he lies above ground. 

 There is generally no fox-trail scent left, and 

 the hound only gets the scent when the fox is 

 started from his resting-place. This scent is, 

 of course, the hot scent of the started fox. He 

 then breaks cover, and they pursue him with 

 that best scent of all in their noses. 



" The Englishman seems to work on the idea 

 that a hound has to be up to carrying so much 

 weight across country; but the American hound 

 is only required to have so much speed, endur- 

 ance, nose, ears, eyes, and voice. 



