An October Afternoon 



bad for the huntsman as it well can be. If a 

 bull may be forgiven, it would have been better 

 for him if it had been worse. For when hounds 

 can barely own a line it is trying enough, but if 

 they have been taught to hunt, and are quietly 

 and patiently handled, though there may be 

 disappointment, much serious harm cannot 

 happen. 



But when, as so frequently happens on these 

 squally days, hounds can run as if tied to their 

 fox for half a mile, and then they check all at 

 once and cannot touch the line for some 

 minutes, and then repeat the same thing a few 

 times ; the young ones are ripe for any mischief, 

 and even the steadiest old hound will so far 

 forget himself at times as to show an inclination 

 to stray from the strict paths of virtue and to 

 theorise, to say the least, that there are other 

 beasts of chase as well as the fox. 



We have got into the third week in October. 

 The Indian summer has been followed by the 

 autumn weather described, and though hounds 

 have done as well as could be expected during 

 the awkward weather they have experienced, 



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