CHAPTER VIII 



CUB-HUNTING 



It is, I think, a very satisfactory sign that cub- 

 hunting is increasing in popularity, and certainly 

 the cub-hunting fields of the present day are much 

 larger than was the case a few years ago. I am 

 not alluding to cub-hunting fields in October, 

 mind. Then cub -hunting is a very different 

 matter from what it is in August and September, 

 and it may be fairly laid down that a man who will 

 get up at 4 a.m. or earlier in order to ride ten or 

 a dozen miles to meet hounds in either of those 

 months when a gallop is almost out of the question 

 either knows something about hounds and hound 

 work or is anxious to learn. 



" You are the best fellow in the world," I once 

 heard a master of hounds say to one of his first- 

 flight men ; " you are a good sportsman and don't 

 override hounds, but your knowledge of hunting 

 is absolutely nil." That remark often occurs to 

 me when I hear the young enthusiast, full of the 

 " madness of the gallop, forty minutes on the 

 grass," without a thought to hounds that have 

 shown him sport ; or when I hear the same 

 enthusiast criticise an experienced huntsman be- 

 cause he will hunt his fox instead of galloping 



