66 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT 



Stover a week later. The pack had killed a fox after 

 hunting him for an hour and a half, and the field, by 

 some mistake, had all gone home, thinking the 

 master had left off drawing. But he had not ; and he 

 found another fox. " Away I went," he says, " with 

 an old fox, at half-past two, in a thick fog, on the 

 shortest day in the year. Nobody but Tom and I, and 

 our heads turned towards Dartmoor. I must confess 

 that, as it grew darker and the pace increased, I began 

 to fear I should lose the homids on the moor. We had 

 a splendid fifty minutes, and, as good fortune would 

 have it, he turned his head (being afraid of the fog) 

 back to Stover and we stopped the hounds, it being 

 dark. We arrived at the kermel at half -past nine 

 o^cl." 



For the benefit of those interested in the problem 

 of scent, Haworth makes the observation, under date 

 21st February, 1844, that there was a rare scent while 

 the snow was falling fast, and adds that he has known 

 a burning scent when snow is disappearing but never 

 when it is coming down. Doubtless, as his experience 

 ripened, he came to learn that a good scent in falling 

 snow is no phenomenon. Another note in his diary 

 on the subject of scent tells how, on the 10th March 

 following, the pack killed an old dog fox on a day 

 that the master characterized as the ^^'ildest and most 

 boisterous he ever saw in this country. 



Haworth began his second season (1844-5) very 

 strong in hounds — thirty-eight couple of working 

 hounds — and he hunted three days a week. But the 

 cubhunting season was again verv hot and drv, not 

 a single drop of rain falling until just before the 

 opening day which was on the 10th October. After 

 that, scent continued very bad indeed until December, 

 with a few exceptional days, such as the 28th Novem- 



