The Hunting Year 



cold makes one's fingers tingle as one jogs on 

 to the fixture. "Will there be a scent?" 

 that faint tinge of blue fog on the distant 

 horizon is not very promising, it is true, but 

 though a blue fog is generally a sign that 

 hounds won't run, it is not always so. 



It is an outlying fox, or perhaps it would be 

 more correct to say a travelling fox that pro- 

 vides the sport on this occasion. A farmer 

 who is to be thoroughly relied upon has told at 

 the fixture how he has seen, when on his way, 

 a fox almost as big as a wolf, so everyone is on 

 the look out for him, even whilst coverts are 

 being drawn. A couple of these that have not 

 much undergrowth have been run through on 

 the chance that the traveller may have dropped 

 in for a rest, and then a hedgerow or two are 

 tried. Then, half a mile away, the cap of a 

 whipper-in, who has been sent forward, is seen 

 in the air, and he hurries on at best pace to tell 

 us what he knows. There is no halloaing, you 

 will observe ; it would never do to let a fox 

 know too much about the whereabouts of his 



enemies. 



90 



