WESTWARD HO ! 37 



same animal up and down that same place in 

 Cutcombe Covert. And if, when you hire, you 

 should find what, to your experiences of hunt- 

 ing in the more or less fashionable country of 

 your choice, you feel inclined to dub an under- 

 sized, common-looking horse placed at your service, 

 don't despise him. He will carry you forty or fifty 

 miles in a day, or even more, galloping over the 

 stony moors when occasion calls, and come home, 

 where a quarter of a mile of level going is bad to 

 meet with, in a manner which is sure to win your 

 admiration, even if he is, from your standpoint, a 

 plain one. 



p^The first thing that will strike a hound man 

 when he looks at the Devon and Somerset pack is 

 the wonderful skill with which his favourite fox- 

 hound is bred. It stands to reason that a pack of 

 hounds, the lowest standard of which is 25 inches, 

 must be largely dependent on drafts, and when I 

 had a look at the hounds on the flags I met with 

 representatives of such old canine friends as the 

 Bramham Sailor, the Cleveland Galopin and 

 Cottager, the Brocklesby Acrobat, and York and 

 Ainsty Falstaff and Windsor, the Belvoir Pirate, 

 and others too numerous to mention. But there 

 the fox-hunter's reminiscences must cease. If he 

 wants to enjoy the hunting of the wild red deer, 

 he must forget all that he knows about fox- 

 hunting ; yet he will find that same knowledge of 

 fox-hunting obtruding itself occasionally, and need- 

 ing stern repression. In the first place, he is sure 

 to miss the excitement and dash which is attendant 

 on drawing for a fox, and from what he has read 

 he will be inclined to think that all stag-hunters 

 have to do is to go and put up the harboured stag 



