And in woodland hunting that which you
thus see and hear is likely to be your amusement for the day.
There is "ample room and verge enough" to run a fox down without
any visit to the open country, and by degrees, as a true love of
hunting comes upon you in place of a love of riding, you will
learn to think that a day among the woodlands is a day not badly
spent. At first, when after an hour and a half the fox has been
hunted to his death, or has succeeded in finding some friendly
hole, you will be wondering when the fun is going to begin. Ah
me! how often have I gone through all the fun, have seen the fun
finished, and then have wondered when it was going to begin; and
that, too, in other things besides hunting !
But at present the fun shall not be finished, and we will go back
to the wood from which the fox is just breaking. You, my pupil,
shall have been patient, and your patience shall be rewarded by a
good start. On the present occasion I will give you the exquisite
delight of knowing that you are there, at the spot, as the hounds
come out of the covert. Your success, or want of success,
throughout the run will depend on the way in which you may now
select to go over the three or four first fields. It is not
difficult to keep with hounds if you can get well away with them,
and be with them when they settle to their running.
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