Hiinting Sketches 255 



have hunted with, the few who were fit to be put into the 

 same class with Sir Charles could be counted on the fingers 

 of one hand. 



He was very quiet with his hounds, but very quick 

 when they required help ; a most patient drawer of coverts, 

 thoroughly searching the portions favourable for holding a 

 fox, and scarcely ever leaving one behind. He had great 

 sympathy with canine nature, and so well understood the 

 ways of a fox that he seemed to know by instinct where it 

 was going, and what was passing through its mind, in every 

 phase of the run. In making a " cast " he constantly held 

 forward to some well-known spot which a fox would be 

 sure to pass when travelling in that direction, and ninety- 

 nine times out of a hundred he was right. His great aim 

 was to be constantly on the back of his fox, and to save 

 every second of time that was possible, for he always kept in 

 view how fast a fox gets over the ground, even at the 

 lolloping pace it travels at, in the later stages of a run. 



If a fox beat him fairly, he seldom rested till he could 

 account for what had become of him, and I have known 

 him go again and again, on subsequent days, to the spot 

 where he had lost him, to solve the problem of his dis- 

 appearance. A fox was once accounted for in a curious 

 way. We found him at Stillington towards the end of 

 October, and had a very fast, straight run past Sheriff' 

 Hutton Castle, shortly after which the scent suddenly died 

 away in a lane, with high banks on each side. In vain did 

 Sir Charles cast round ; the hounds could make nothing of 

 it, and reluctantly he had to take them away. The next 

 day a farmer wrote to say that he had got the fox, and Sir 

 Charles might have him if he cared to send over for him. 

 It appeared that a travelling tinker had been passing along 



