the true direction of your own beat, which is directly up the middle of
the field meeting the wind. If perceiving your advance he turn towards
you, face him--wave your right hand to him, and, while he sees you, run on
a few paces in his direction--that is, _parallel_ to his true direction.
As he approaches the hedge--the one on your right hand, but be careful
that he does not get close to it, lest, from often finding game there, he
ultimately become a potterer and regular hedge hunter--face towards him,
and on catching his eye, wave your left arm. If you cannot succeed in
catching his eye, you must give one low whistle--the less you habituate
yourself to use the whistle, the less you will alarm the birds--study to
do all, as far as is practicable, by signals. You wish your wave of the
left arm to make the dog turn to the left--his head to the wind,--and that
he should run parallel to the side of the hedge for some yards--say from
thirty to forty--before he makes his second turn to the left to cross the
field; but you must expect him to turn too directly towards you on your
first signal to turn. Should he by any rare chance have made the turn--the
first one--correctly, and thus be hunting up-wind, on no account interrupt
him by making any signals until he has run up the distance you wish--the
aforesaid thirty or forty yards,--then again catch his eye, and, as
before--not now, however, faced towards him and the hedge, but faced
towards your true direction,--by a wave of the left arm endeavor to make
him turn to the left--across the wind. If, contrary to what you have a
right to suppose, he will not turn towards you on your giving a whistle
and wave of your hand, stand still, and continue whistling--eventually he
will obey. But you must not indulge in the faintest hope that all I have
described will be done correctly; be satisfied at first with an approach
towards accuracy; you will daily find an improvement, if you persevere
steadily. When you see that there is but little chance of his turning the
way you want, at once use the signal more consonant to his views, for it
should be your constant endeavor to make him fancy that he is always
ranging according to the directions of your hands. Be particular in
attending to this hint.

130. His past tuition--34--most probably will have accustomed him to watch
your eye for directions, therefore it is not likely, even should he have
made a wrong turn near the hedge--a turn down-wind