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Hunting Sketches-Part8_Antony Trollope(1815-1882)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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so with that elasticity which you will love; and then, after

that, the journey home is, it is occasionally something almost



too frightful to be contemplated. You can, therefore, if it so

please you, station yourself with other patient long-suffering,



mindful men at some corner, or at some central point amidst the

rides, biding your time, consoling yourself with cigars, and not



swearing at the vile perfidious, unfoxlike fox more frequently

than you can help. For the fox on such occasions will be abused



with all the calumnious epithets which the ingenuity of angry men

can devise, because he is exercising that ingenuity the



possession of which on his part is the foundation of fox-hunting.

There you will remain, nursing your horse, listening to chaff,



and hoping. But even when the fox does go, your difficulties may

be but beginning.



It is possible he may have gone on your side of the 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 woodlandhunting 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 depend on



his power and his condition. But, presuming your horse to be able

to go, keeping with hounds is not difficult when you are once



free from the thick throng of the riders. And that thick throng

soon makes itself thin. The difficulty is in the start, and you



will almost be offended when I suggest to you what those

difficulties are, and suggest also that such as they are even



they may overcome you. You have to choose your line of riding. Do

not let your horse choose it for you instead of choosing it for



yourself. He will probably make such attempts, and it is not at

all improbable that you should let him have his way. Your horse



will be as anxious to go as you are, but his anxiety will carry

him after some other special horse on which he has fixed his



eyes. The rider of that horse may not be the guide that you would

select. But some human guide you must select. Not at first will



you, not at first does any man, choose for himself with serene

precision of confident judgment the line which he will take. You



will be flurried, anxious, self-diffident, conscious of your own

ignorance, and desirous of a leader. Many of those men who are



with you will have objects at heart very different from your

object. Some will ride for certain points, thinking that they can



foretell the run of the fox. They may be right; but you, in your




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