268 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



half the village in the road. As it is hereditary in 

 Leicestershire men to holloa when they see a fox — 

 they have done it for a hundred and fifty years and 

 more and cannot help it — so it is hereditary in Leicester- 

 shire foxes not to mind. I should suppose that all 

 the foxes that feared the howls of men and boys had 

 long since been driven into the jaws of the pack and 

 killed. It is such an obvious advantage in the struggle 

 for existence to a race of foxes to have the courage 

 to fly from the real danger — the hounds — and to dis- 

 regard imaginary perils, that no doubt most foxes do 

 actually make their point in spite of holloas. But on 

 this occasion he meets a sheep-dog. Though the dog 

 probably would not tackle a fox if he came to close 

 quarters, yet the fox cannot be expected to know 

 this and he turns back. Every one has rushed to 

 obtain a sight of the hunt, and consequently when the 

 fox peeps out on the other side of the thorns there is 

 a clear course before him and a well-known covert, 

 nay two, not very far away. Quick as the fox has 

 been, a whipper-in is round quicker still, so, as the fox 

 slips away, as he thinks, unseen, George's eye marks 

 his flight up lengthwise of the ridge and furrow. But 

 wisely the whipper-in says nothing, for away on the 

 vantage ground under the clump of trees he sees a 

 little knot of men and if he attracts their attention he 

 knows that they will " holloa." Swiftly and silently 

 two of the bitches cast themselves into the field ; two 

 or three more come out and join them and with a 

 self-satisfied little whimper scour away. The hunts- 

 man has by a sort of instinct made his way round. 

 His keen eye lights on the hounds and he gallops away 

 with the leading couples, blowing his horn for the 

 rest. The field in the meantime have a good start 

 and are galloping a hundred yards to the right of the 



