228 STAGHUNTING WITH THE 



not found exactly where the harbourer denotes, 

 but it has to be done if good sport is to follow, 

 for the pack will never run eagerly if one of 

 their number is ahead of them and the foil 

 consequently covered. Very often however the 

 huntsman finds himself obliged to hunt such 

 a foil, and after awhile his perseverance is 

 generally rewarded by coming up wnth the 

 truant hound at some water where the stag 

 has baffled his one pursuer, and where it 

 requires man's reason to aid hound's instinct, 

 in order to cope with the stag's craft of self 

 preservation. Old hounds that have been through 

 many a season and have been stopped and 

 stopped again, may perhaps obey the voice of 

 the casual stranger who finds himself with the 

 ■opportunity to help the hunt servants, but as 

 a rule the great hounds from Exford will hearken 

 to none but those whose voices they know, and 

 who know their names. 



The ease with which their master, huntsman 

 and whipper-in control them is well known, it 

 being by no means uncommon to see them 

 stopped bv a word across some impassable 

 ravine, and such control is naturally of the very 

 greatest importance in securing a successful issue 

 to the dav's undertaking. 



All through the days of summer the young 

 hounds are exercised and trained in the way 

 that thev should go, and taught to discriminate 



