HUNTING ON FOOT 167 



impossible to carry it out effectually. So that after 

 a long and tiring run, those who first arrive on the 

 scene frequently find hounds baying at a hole in 

 the rocks. There is no thought of leaving him, 

 he must be got if possible. Terriers are sent in, 

 and the work of excavation, frequently a long and 

 weary one, begins. On one occasion I was in- 

 formed by their huntsman, " Owd Tommy 

 Dobson," it was seventeen hours and a half from 

 the time they found in the morning to the time 

 they got to their fox and killed him. 



For there is no compunction about killing a fox 

 with these gallant sportsmen. The hill foxes play 

 havoc with the lambs in a stormy spring, and it 

 reflects the greatest credit on the hill farmers that 

 they only kill the fox in the legitimate way, an 

 example which might well be followed in some 

 of the more fashionable districts where farmers 

 and others do derive some benefit from hunting 

 visitors. 



I may add that until a few years ago the Courts 

 Leet used to pay the huntsman 10s. for each brush 

 he produced at its sitting, a survival doubtless of 

 the "wolf-geld," but this has been abolished, and 

 Tommy Dobson says " he doesn't see what good 

 them coorts are noo." 



