136 THE SPORT OF KINGS 



going. The consequence was that the fox slipped 

 back behind them unseen. Had they stood still 

 when the check came they must have viewed the 

 fox, and the result would have probably been a 

 good run under the conditions. In other words, 

 had they devoted as much thought to what their 

 own duty was under the circumstances as they did 

 in wondering why the huntsman did this or the 

 other, their expenditure of thought would have 

 been to some useful purpose. The curious part 

 of the thing is that though it was explained to the 

 critics that the huntsman's cast was a scientific 

 one, in talking of that run they still maintain that 

 " any one could have seen that the fox had gone 

 on to Willingbury Hazels." 



Another instance, even more remarkable than 

 the last, occurs to my memory. It was a wild, 

 stormy day, a strong wind fit to tear a man out 

 of the saddle was blowing, and it was almost an 

 impossible morning for hunting. The huntsman 

 was a man with a great reputation — a man who 

 was quite at the top of his profession, but it had 

 become the fashion in some quarters to " crab " 

 him. So a start was made, when he went to the 

 opposite end of the coverts to draw to what was 

 his custom. Of course, had he given the foxes 

 the benefit of the wind, so late as it was in the 

 season, they would have been gone long before 

 hounds could have got near them ; but that was 

 ignored, and his method of drawing the country 

 was somewhat severely handled. You see some 

 of the field had stationed themselves at the covert 

 they thought he ought to begin at, and had not 

 taken the trouble to go on to the meet. How- 

 ever, they found a fox, and hunted him for about 



