THE LATER CUB-HUNTING 81 



this wood of many acres than a fox " went away, 

 he was not found," and was killed after running a 

 twelve-mile point. The men who were grumbling 

 instead of minding their work I need scarcely say 

 were left. 



When October comes in, and in a forward 

 season a few days earlier, something like the real 

 thing may be indulged in, and if the country is not 

 too well stocked with foxes, must be indulged in if 

 the foxes are to hold out through the season. For 

 foxes certainly do not require so much bustling 

 about to make them face the open when they are 

 not thick on the ground, and the aim of cub-hunting 

 is to teach foxes what is required of them as well as 

 hounds. 



The smaller coverts, too, are generally reserved 

 for the latter part of cub-hunting, and from them 

 there is always a better chance of getting a gallop. 

 So though the country is blind enough, and will be 

 until there comes some frost, men take to jumping 

 naturally, and falls are fewer in proportion than 

 they are later in the season. Sport, too, is generally 

 good in October ; better, I fancy, than it generally 

 is during the first few days of November, when 

 the falling leaf affects it considerably, especially 

 in covert. Some excellent runs have been en- 

 joyed, both in the shires and in the provinces, 

 during the latter days of October, and I can call 

 to mind one occasion when something very like 

 the run of the season took place in the middle of 

 that month. 



Perhaps the reason that there are fewer falls in 



the cub-hunting season may be due to the fact that 



1 men do not ride quite so jealously as they do later 



on, that there are not such large fields, and, con- 



G 



