224 THE SPORT OF KINGS 



indecision. An old friend of mine used to sum up 

 the whole art of riding to hounds as being able to 

 tell whether to open a gate or to jump it, which is 

 as nearly accurate as most epigrams, for it is above 

 all things necessary to make up one's mind quickly 

 and to act as quickly if one wishes to see a fast 

 run in a good place. 



It is lack of judgment rather than lack of nerve 

 which causes a man to be "thrown out" in a run, 

 and it is curious, by the way, how small a propor- 

 tion of hunting men even attempt to ride to 

 hounds. Most of them, and those, too, possessed 

 of excellent nerves, ride to some pilot, or take 

 notice more of the men to right and left of them 

 than they do of hounds. And this is made clear 

 by the fact that should the huntsman not be on 

 the spot when hounds check and ask how far they 

 carried the line there are few indeed of the first flight 

 who can tell him with any degree of accuracy. 

 Every one can, of course, tell where they stopped 

 running altogether, but that is another story. 



So with so many men not taking notice of 

 hounds it is not much wonder that they frequently 

 get thrown out. For when a man is not accus- 

 tomed to watch hounds closely, to attend to their 

 cry in covert, and to attempt to discriminate 

 between the cry in covert and out of it, no very 

 easy task, he is heavily handicapped if he chances 

 to be alone or not in the company of one who 

 knows what to look for and where to look for it. 



One fruitful source of disaster is neglecting to 

 take advantage of the wind. " It is astonishing," 

 said a veteran huntsman to me once, " how 

 gentlemen will continue to make up-wind casts," 

 and sink the wind is a motto which every hunting 



