^Nimrod ' 



stantly have to be checked for rating a stray Hound at these 

 critical moments : but such a pontiff as * Nimrod ' makes 

 himself out to be ought to have known all this, and to 

 have known that unless the Fox has gone, Hounds who fling 

 outside the covert will invariably turn back to the cry, and 

 that to holloa at them is an offence. Yet ' Nimrod ' makes 

 the boy crack his whip and rate at Rasselas as if he was 

 running a hare. But this is not all. After nineteen quick 

 minutes the Hounds have overrun the scent, having been 

 pressed too hard by the horses. The Squire ' tells off ' his 

 field quite correctly, saying they had themselves to thank 

 for the delay, and then proceeds to blow his horn ^ ' in order ' 

 to bring them back to the point at which the scent had 

 failed. ' Nimrod ' had never, as far as we know, hunted 

 Hounds himself ; but any one who has hunted Hounds will 

 tell you that when they have been running hard and sud- 

 denly throw up is the very moment when absolute silence 

 is the only thing that can retrieve the situation. But to blow 

 the horn and get their heads up ! ' Nimrod ' says that Mr. 

 Osbaldeston's Hounds came back at one blast. If they did, 

 they cannot have had much courage. 



When a highly-bred pack of Foxhounds have been run- 

 ning full cry for nineteen minutes and come to a check, 

 the first thing they do is to quarter the ground and fling 

 themselves this way and that, all with heads down, and 

 some with hackles up, to recover the scent. There is nothing 

 more beautiful and wonderful than this in the whole of 



1 Our italics, 



123 



