360 THE SPORT OF KINGS 



ensued when three or four horns were being blown 

 in more or less discordant fashion, and when each 

 man was cheering on his own hound. That under 

 such conditions good sport was enjoyed upon occa- 

 sion is not due to the merits of the system ; but 

 good sport they did show, these fine old fellows 

 who hunted with trencher-fed packs, and it was in 

 great measure due to the fact that fields ruled 

 small, and that those who went out had a know- 

 ledge of woodcraft which the average hunting man 

 of the present day is deficient in. Soon, however, 

 the superfluous horns were done away with, and I 

 have seen instructions to sportsmen which told that 

 " on no occasion were they to speak to hounds 

 when the huntsman was near." 



When hounds find a fox in a thick covert in 

 which there are more foxes than one it is most im- 

 portant that there should be no interference on the 

 part of the public. The huntsman may be trusted 

 to have made all necessary arrangements for the 

 viewing of the fox away, and if his whippers-in 

 are not able to cover the whole of the ground he 

 will have one or two trusty emissaries who will 

 take care that nothing gets away unseen. If a 

 man thinks that the run fox has gone his way and 

 has reason for his belief, he may holloa once ; but 

 he should rarely repeat his holloa. The huntsman 

 in all probability has heard him the first time, and 

 for sundry weighty reasons he may have made up 

 his mind not to come to the holloa. He alone 

 can be the judge, as on him the chief responsibility 

 for the day's sport depends. Holloaing all over 

 the place, and holloaing wildly whenever a fox is 

 seen, is a sure way to spoil sport. 



One word as to the holloa itself. "Gone 



