THE WHIPPER-IN 117 



was the cause of hounds missing their fox when 

 they thoroughly deserved him. And you may be 

 sure that whipper-in remembered the next time 

 there were any open earths in front of a sinking 

 fox, which he probably might not have done if it 

 had not been for the reprimand. 



In the kennel the first whipper-in has to take 

 command when the huntsman is absent on business 

 or from illness, and on occasion, when he is laid 

 up from accident or illness, he has to hunt the 

 hounds. Then comes his opportunity, and if he 

 succeeds in showing good sport there generally 

 comes for him the beginning of better things. 

 And when a whipper-in takes the horn for the 

 first time, the field should be more considerate 

 than they generally are under the circumstances. 

 For the whipper-in is heavily handicapped. He 

 has been accustomed to turn hounds and not to 

 call them to him. He is also working at the dis- 

 advantage of having a man short, or if some one is 

 put on to help him, he is unaccustomed to the 

 duties, and the second whipper-in is as strange to 

 his task as his senior is to hunting the hounds. 

 Therefore more room should be given him to 

 make his casts. But this is by no means the case, 

 and generally the wild ones are wilder than ever 

 when the first whipper-in hunts the hounds. A 



whipper-in once said to me, "I wish Mr. ," 



naming the huntsman, " was able to come out 

 again ; the gentlemen don't take any notice of me, 

 and I haven't a chance to show sport," and the 

 man looked worried and anxious. Yet he was a 

 very capable man, and made a good huntsman. 



The sport depends as much on the skill and 

 ability of the whipper-in as on that of the hunts- 



