CHAPTER XXVII 



CAPPING 



" Ways and means " are a very important item 

 in every hunt, and how to provide the sinews of 

 war is a matter which exercises that sorely-tried 

 individual, the hunt secretary, no little. For it is 

 palpable that increasing fields and the requirements 

 of modern sport mean increased expenditure, and it 

 is unfortunately true that funds are not forthcoming 

 in proportion to the number of men who hunt. 

 In fashionable countries and in provincial countries 

 alike ; in countries where the expenditure is 

 counted by thousands, and in countries where a 

 very few hundreds serve to keep things afloat, 

 there is heard the same complaint, that too many 

 of the men who hunt want their hunting for 

 nothing. Resignations, too, take place from time 

 to time, because Masters of Hounds are called upon 

 to pay too large a proportion of the expenses ; and 

 not unfrequently, when a " whip up " is made to 

 meet the requirements of the Master, there is great 

 difficulty in collecting the extra money promised. 

 Why this should be it is difficult to say, but men 

 who will spend their money lavishly over a 

 moderate snooting appear to think that they 

 should enjoy the best of good hunting for a very 

 moderate outlay. Of course such a state of things 



