SOME SMOKING-ROOM YARNS 171 



were anxious to see how the somewhat unpopular Master 

 would shape in his new and self-imposed role. 



He, poor man, very soon found himself in difficulties. 

 Scarcely had hounds been " thrown into covert " than he 

 discovered that instead of his patent " self-playing " horn 

 he had brought an ordinary one, upon which he couldn't 

 \\ind a single note beyond a shrill squeak; while the 

 hounds, accustomed to hear and obey the musical voice 

 of Tom, their huntsman, paid not the slightest heed to 

 the strange and unorthodox cheering and rating of the 

 Master. 



Now a huntsman who can neither blow a horn nor 

 throw his voice to advantage is just about as useful in 

 covert or field as a shooting man without cartridges 



with which to charge his gun. Mr. L very soon 



found himself deserted by every hound in the pack 

 barring poor old Tiger, who pottered about the covert 

 a few yards ahead of him. 



Suddenly a distant challenge from one of the errant 

 hounds was rephed to by the full chorus of the pack, 

 and almost simultaneously Tiger hit off a " line " on his 

 own account, opened with the deep, bell-like " music " 

 pecuhar to the Welsh hound, ran a short distance up 

 a ride and so out of covert with the Master following 

 and blowing the most discordant notes on the horn 

 imaginable. Meanwhile a fox had " broken " near the 

 far end of the wood, and the main strength of the pack, 

 followed by the scarlet-coated hunt servants and the 

 " field " — who by-the-bye, appeared to have forgotten 

 the very existence of the Master — were racing after 

 their quarry across a lovely line of country. With the 

 exception of a welter veoman named Rodwell, who. 



