2 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT 



shires," we find compensation in things and circum- 

 stances that do not fall to the lot of those who make 

 up the crowded fields of the midlands. The oppor- 

 tunities of seeing hound -work at its best and of 

 becoming acquainted with individual hounds, the 

 total absence of all artificiality, the stoutness of the 

 foxes, the good-fellowship amongst the members of 

 the field, who all know one another, the personal 

 friendship of the most sporting of farmers, the 

 civility of the country people and the glorious scenery 

 of the most beautiful of counties — all these give a 

 charm to the sport that Nimrod knew nothing of. 



But, beyond this, there is, to my mind, a satisfac- 

 tion as great in having gone well to the end of a run 

 in a rough and intricate country, especially if one 

 is not over-well mounted, as there is in having kept 

 a good place in a quick thing in the Shires. A 

 satisfaction in having done it, be it noted ; not the 

 same rapture or the same glorious thrill in the doing. 

 But to have got quickly through a rideless woodland, 

 riding by ear all the way ; to have hit off the only 

 crossing of the boggy bottom below, taken the right 

 turn at the top of the next hill with hounds out of 

 sight and hearing, jumped the big boundary bank, 

 bustled round the stony lane instead of attempting 

 to cross the impossible valley, taken the right line of 

 gates or jumpable fences and been in time to see 

 the fox rolled over; to have done all this, with no 

 pilot in front and nothing but eye, ear and instinct 

 as guides, puts a man on as good terms with him- 

 self as to have been in front, let us say, with the 

 Cottesmore, from Cold Overton to Thorpe Trussels. 



As for our nomenclature, it must be conceded that 

 Nimrod had some cause for surprise. We do use 

 some rather curious expressions. He himself was 



