HUNTSMAN AND WHIPPER-IN. 185 



prudent in not hurrying them beyond it when it 

 is bad. Yours, you say, is a good horseman ; 

 it is of the utmost consequence to your sport, 

 nor is it possible for a huntsman to be of much 

 use who is not ; for the first thing, and the very 

 sine qua non of a fox-hunter, is to ride up to 

 his head hounds. It is his business to be ready 

 at all times to lend them that assistance they so 

 frequently stand in need of, and which, when 

 they are first at a fault, is then most critical. 

 A fox-hound at that time will exert himself 

 most: he afterwards cools, and becomes more 

 indifferent about his game. Those huntsmen 

 who do not get forward enough to take advan- 

 tage of his eagerness and impetuosity, and direct 

 it properly, seldom know enough of hunting to 

 be of much use to them afterwards. 



You will perhaps find it more difficult to keep 

 your whipper-in back than to get your hunts" 

 man forward;* at least, I always have found it 



means no more than to get forward the tail hounds, and to 

 encourage the others to push on as fast as they can while 

 the scent serves thera. 



* Though a huntsman cannot be too fond of hunting, a 

 whipper-in easily may. His business will seldom allow 

 him to be forward enough with the hounds to see much of 

 the sport. His only thought, therefore, should be to keep 

 the hounds together, and to contribute as much as he can 

 to the killing of the fox. 



