TYPICAL CUB-HUNTING 287 



language, for the " holding up " of a beaten cub). In 

 September, remember, we are at morning school. In 

 November begin the hoHdays, when huntsmen of course 

 only kill the " pogr things " when they can't help it ; and 

 as the " poor things " are at that period more capable of 

 taking care of themselves, the tender men who blow the 

 horn after them are then in some degree assisted towards 

 the better carrying out of their mission of mercy. 



By this time not only did one or two of Goodall's 

 hounds present an appearance of having been bathed in 

 blood ; but he himself, as the result of a plunge into covert 

 in order to rescue the remains of a kill, was trickling from 

 every feature ; while his white collar was nearly obliterated 

 with gore. In fact, as some one lightly remarked, it 

 looked as if for once our keen huntsman had tried to drink 

 so much blood he could not swallow it all. (Let me not for 

 a moment be supposed to infer that a single unnecessary 

 fox was killed on Wednesday. But it was a dainty feast. 

 And, besides, two foxes got to ground in front of hounds.) 

 A still more sanguinary-looking object was one old dog in 

 the pack who had rent an ear from top to bottom on a 

 barbed wire. Now, you know, it has for some years been 

 customary with the Pytchley to leave their hounds' ears 

 unrounded. But this hound can hardly be allowed to 

 go through life with a long, split curtain flapping on the 

 side of his head — a kind of divided skirt to hide his 

 blushes. It will therefore be, I imagine, a matter for 

 earnest consultation in kennel as to whether merely the 

 injured flapper shall be rounded on lines laid down by our 

 ancestors, or whether the poor dog is to have both ears 

 rounded, and is henceforth to figure as a kind of pariah 

 among the unmutilated. I shall speculate keenly upon this 

 point during my absence in county Tipperary, and shall 

 look forward with no little curiosity to the appearance of 

 Bobadil on my return. 



But please note, ye thrusters, who propose to ride on 

 the backs of this pack during the winter, that the Pytchley 

 have another hound on whom they set greater store. And 

 his name, as some of you may surmise, is Forager, of this 

 year's entry. Besides being " quite useful-looking " — so 



