A Vanishing Sport 109 



where no other animal, be he cat or dog, can 

 venture, and when followed by the hunter's hounds 

 they pursue exactly the same tactics. Arrived 

 at their supposed refuge, they are so intent on 

 staring at the baying hounds that they pay little 

 attention to their deadlier two-footed foes, who 

 can approach close enough to use their antiquated 

 pieces with effect. It is said that whole herds 

 are sometimes wiped out in this way ; but this 

 must be very rare, or one would not find all 

 grounds new to the European sportsman as full 

 of game as they usually are. 



The sport is conducted in two ways. There is 

 the royal drive, as managed for the benefit of the 

 petty kings of the Hindu Kush, in which a large 

 number of beaters with dogs drive the game up 

 to posted guns, much as chamois are driven in 

 Austria. And there is the humbler but more 

 sporting way followed by the professional hunter, 

 with his leash of hounds, frequently entailing 

 toil which few but born mountaineers could 

 endure. One's pity, however, is reserved for the 

 princes and mighty ones of the earth in this 

 matter, for here, as in other places, they are 

 rarely allowed the pleasure of doing their own 

 hunting. Poor kings who miss the real enjoy- 

 ment of sport, though themselves ignorant of 

 their loss, one cannot but feel sorry for them ! 



