e wood; but much more
probable that he should have taken the other. He loves not that crowd
that has been abusing him, and steals away from some silent distant
corner. You, who are a beginner, hear nothing of his going; and when you
rush off, as you will do with others, you will hardly know at first why
the rush is made. But some one with older eyes and more experienced ears
has seen signs and heard sounds, and knows that the fox is away. Then,
my friend, you have your place to win, and it may be that the distance
shall be too great to allow of your winning it. Nothing but experience
will guide you safely through these difficulties.

In drawing forests or woodlands your course is much clearer. There is
no question, then, of standing still and waiting with patience, tobacco,
and chaff for the coming start. The area to be drawn is too large to
admit of waiting, and your only duty is to stay as close to the hounds
as your ears and eyes will permit, remembering always that your ears
should serve you much more often than your eyes. 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. In a long and
fast run your horse may, of course, fail you. That must