第19章 HOW TO RIDE TO HOUNDS(1)

Now attend me,Diana and the Nymphs,Pan,Orion,and the Satyrs,for I have a task in hand which may hardly be accomplished without some divine aid.And the lesson I would teach is one as to which even gods must differ,and no two men will ever hold exactly the same opinion.Indeed,no written lesson,no spoken words,no lectures,be they ever so often repeated,will teach any man to ride to hounds.The art must come of nature and of experience;and Orion,were he here,could only tell the tyro of some few blunders which he may avoid,or give him a hint or two as to the manner in which he should begin.

Let it be understood that I am speaking of fox-hunting,and let the young beginner always remember that in hunting the fox a pack of hounds is needed.The huntsman,with his servants,and all the scarlet-coated horsemen in the field,can do nothing towards the end for which they are assembled without hounds.He who as yet knows nothing of hunting will imagine that I am laughing at him in saying this;but,after a while,he will know how needful it is to bear in mind the caution I here give him,and will see how frequently men seem to forget that a fox cannot be hunted without hounds.A fox is seen to break from the covert,and men ride after it;the first man,probably,being some cunning sinner,who would fain get off alone if it were possible,and steal a march upon the field.But in this case one knave makes many fools;and men will rush,and ride along the track of the game,as though they could hunt it,and will destroy the scent before the hounds are on it,following,in their ignorance,the footsteps of the cunning sinner.Let me beg my young friend not to be found among this odious crowd of marplots.His business is to ride to hounds;and let him do so from the beginning of the run,persevering through it all,taking no mean advantages,and allowing himself to be betrayed into as few mistakes as possible;but let him not begin before the beginning.If he could know all that is inside the breast of that mean man who commenced the scurry,the cunning man who desires to steal a march,my young friend would not wish to emulate him.With nine-tenths of the men who flutter away after this ill fashion there is no design of their own in their so riding.They simply wish to get away,and in their impatience forget the little fact that a pack of hounds is necessary for the hunting of a fox.

I have found myself compelled to begin with this preliminary caution,as all riding to hounds hangs on the fact in question.

Men cannot ride to hounds if the hounds be not there.They may ride one after another,and that,indeed,suffices for many a keen sportsman;but I am now addressing the youth who is ambitious of riding to hounds.But though I have thus begun,striking first at the very root of the matter,I must go back with my pupil into the covert before I carry him on through the run.In riding to hounds there is much to do before the straight work commences.Indeed,the straight work is,for the man,the easiest work,or the work,I should say,which may be done with the least previous knowledge.Then the horse,with his qualities,comes into play;and if he be up to his business in skill,condition,and bottom,a man may go well by simply keeping with others who go well also.Straight riding,however,is the exception and not the rule.It comes sometimes,and is the cream of hunting when it does come;but it does not come as often as the enthusiastic beginner will have taught himself to expect.

But now we will go back to the covert,and into the covert if it be a large one.I will speak of three kinds of coverts,the gorse,the wood,and the forest.There are others,but none other so distinct as to require reference.As regards the gorse covert,which of all is the most delightful,you,my disciple,need only be careful to keep in the crowd when it is being drawn.You must understand that if the plantation which you see before you,and which is the fox's home and homestead,be surrounded,the owner of it will never leave it.A fox will run back from a child among a pack of hounds,so much more terrible is to him the human race even than the canine.The object of all men of course is that the fox shall go,and from a gorse covert of five acres he must go very quickly or die among the hounds.It will not be long before he starts if there be space left for him to creep out,as he will hope,unobserved.Unobserved he will not be,for the accustomed eye of some whip or servant will have seen him from a corner.But if stray horsemen roaming round the gorse give him no room for such hope,he will not go.All which is so plainly intelligible,that you,my friend,will not fail to understand why you are required to remain with the crowd.And with simple gorse coverts there is no strong temptation to move about.They are drawn quickly,and though there be a scramble for places when the fox has broken,the whole thing is in so small a compass that there is no difficulty in getting away with the hounds.In finding your right place,and keeping it when it is found,you may have difficulty;but in going away from a gorse the field will be open for you,and when the hounds are well out and upon the scent,then remember your Latin;Occupet extremum scabies.

But for one fox found in a gorse you will,in ordinary countries,see five found in woods;and as to the place and conduct of a hunting man while woods are being drawn,there is room for much doubt.I presume that you intend to ride one horse throughout the day,and that you wish to see all the hunting that may come in your way.This being so,it will be your study to economize your animal's power,and to keep him fresh for the run when it comes.