It is, of course, usual for a man or two to mount guard at such borrans when hounds are advertised to meet in the neighbourhood, but even the keenest hunter becomes fed-up waiting perhaps for hours on a cold day, with only an occasional and distant sound of hounds to cheer his watch.
CONISTON FOXHOUNDS: “GONE TO GROUND.”
ULLSWATER FOXHOUNDS: B. WILSON, THE WHIPPER-IN.
Some foxes are almost impossible to keep out of such places. Despite halloing and whip-cracking they will be in, no matter what you do. Others, again, sheer off at the slightest hint, and seek refuge elsewhere. Sometimes a fox has to get to ground where he can, and I have seen one get into what on the surface appeared to be quite a simple spot, defy all the best efforts of terriers and men to dislodge him.
As may be imagined, the huntsman to a fell pack must be a hard and tireless walker, for he has many miles of rough ground to cover from the time he leaves kennels in the morning until his return at dusk or later. Even he gets tired at times, but if it is humanly possible he will get all his hounds back to kennels before dark, or, at any rate, the same night.
Sometimes hounds have to be left out, but by the following day most of them will have found their way home again. On these occasions one or two of them may visit the farms or other places where they spend the summer, if anywhere near them; and after a feed or a sleep, resume their journey.
It is surprising how hungry one gets on the fells. I remember on one occasion following hounds from the Scandale valley, near Ambleside, over Fairfield, across Deepdale, and out again to the summit of Helvellyn. I was with the huntsman, and both of us had eaten our lunch some hours previously. On the summit of Helvellyn is a seat, and round it that afternoon were scattered a lot of banana peelings. We were so hungry that we barely refrained from eating the latter. We have often laughed over it since, and I remember I made up for it with bread and cheese and beer when we got down off the mountain at dusk.
It is always advisable to take sufficient food with you on these occasions, for you are never quite certain when you are going to get the next meal.