CHAPTER V 



WESTWARD HO ! 



There lies your way, due west. 

 Then, Westward Ho {—Twelfth Night. 



Thanks to our increased facilities for travel, the 

 hunting man, even if his leisure be of the shortest, 

 can begin his season sooner by three months than 

 he was wont to do in the good old days when 

 George the Third was king. And lest there 

 should be any misunderstanding, I will here ex- 

 plain that by the hunting man I do not mean a 

 gentleman whose lines are cast in such pleasant 

 places that he can live amongst country pursuits 

 all his life. For that man there is a constant 

 round of happy employment, all leading up to 

 his favourite sport, if he be a hunting man. The 

 individual I have more particularly in my mind 

 is the busy professional man or merchant, a man 

 with little leisure but great love for sport, and who 

 takes his two days a week or three days a fort- 

 night, from November to March, stealing another 

 day whenever he has the chance. For him there 

 is no cub-hunting ; the very fact that his resid- 

 ence is many miles from the scene of action pre- 

 vents him taking part in that most enjoyable 

 sport. And indeed were he, so to speak, on the 



