Fox Tracks (2 page)
Authors: Rita Mae Brown
The grays are
Comet, Inky
, and
Georgia
. Their dens are a bit more modest than those of the red foxes, who like to announce their abodes with a prominent pile of dirt and bones outside. Perhaps not all grays are modest nor all reds full of themselves, but as a rule of thumb it’s so.
Athena
is a great horned owl. This type of owl can stand two feet and a half in height with a wingspread of four feet and can weigh up to five pounds.
Bitsy
is a screech owl. She is eight and a half inches high with a twenty-inch wingspread. She weighs a whopping six ounces and she’s reddish brown. Her considerable lungs make up for her small stature.
St. Just
, a crow, is a foot and a half in height, his wingspread is a surprising three feet, and he weighs one pound.
Raleigh
is a Doberman who likes to be with Sister.
Rooster
is a harrier, willed to Sister by an old lover, Peter Wheeler.
Golliwog
, or Golly, is a large calico cat and would hate being included with the dogs as a pet. She is the Queen of All She Surveys.
Away
. A fox has
gone away
when he has left the covert. Hounds are
away
when they have left the covert on the line of the fox.
Brush
. The fox’s tail.
Burning scent
. Scent so strong or hot that hounds pursue the line without hesitation.
Bye day
. A day not regularly on the fixture card.
Cap
. The fee nonmembers pay to hunt for that day’s sport.
Carry a good head
. When hounds run well together to a good scent, a scent spread wide enough for the whole pack to smell it.
Carry a line
. When hounds follow the scent. This is also called
working a line
.
Cast
. Hounds spread out in search of scent. They may cast themselves or be cast by the huntsman.
Charlie
. A term for a fox. A fox may also be called
Reynard
.
Check
. When hounds lose the scent and stop. The field must wait quietly while the hounds search for the scent.
Colors
. A distinguishing color, usually worn on the collar but sometimes on the facings of a coat, that identifies a hunt. Colors can be awarded only by the master and can be worn only in the field.
Coop
. A jump resembling a chicken coop.
Couple straps
. Two-strap hound collars connected by a swivel link. Some members of staff will carry these on the right rear of the saddle. Since the days of the pharaohs in ancient Egypt, hounds have been brought to the meets coupled. Hounds are always spoken of and counted in couples. Today, hounds walk or are driven to the meets. Rarely, if ever, are they coupled, but a whipper-in still carries couple straps should a hound need assistance.
Covert
. A patch of woods or bushes where a fox might hide. Pronounced
cover
.
Cry
. How one hound tells another what is happening. The sound will differ according to the various stages of the chase. It’s also called
giving tongue
and should occur when a hound is working a line.
Cub hunting
. The informal hunting of young foxes in the late summer and early fall, before formal hunting. The main purpose is to enter young hounds into the pack. Until recently only the most knowledgeable members were invited to cub hunt, since they would not interfere with young hounds.
Dog fox
. The male fox.
Dog hound
. The male hound.
Double
. A series of short sharp notes blown on the horn to alert all that a fox is afoot. The
gone away
series of notes is a form of doubling the horn.
Draft
. To acquire hounds from another hunt is to accept a draft.
Draw
. The plan by which a fox is hunted or searched for in a certain area, such as a covert.
Draw over the fox
. Hounds go through a covert where the fox is but cannot pick up his scent. The only creature who understands how this is possible is the fox.
Drive
. The desire to push the fox, to get up with the line. It’s a very desirable trait in hounds, so long as they remain obedient.
Dually
. A one-ton pickup truck with double wheels in back.
Dwell
. To hunt without getting forward. A hound who dwells is a bit of a putterer.
Enter
. Hounds are entered into the pack when they first hunt, usually during cubbing season.
Field
. The group of people riding to hounds, exclusive of the master and hunt staff.
Fieldmaster
. The person appointed by the master to control the field. Often it is the master him- or herself.
Fixture
. A card sent to all dues-paying members, stating when and where the hounds will meet. A fixture card properly received is an invitation to hunt. This means the card would be mailed or handed to a member by the master.
Flea-bitten
. A gray horse with spots or ticking which can be black or chestnut.
Gone away
. The call on the horn when the fox leaves the covert.
Gone to ground
. A fox who has ducked into his den or some other refuge has
gone to ground
.
Good night
. The traditional farewell to the master after the hunt, regardless of the time of day.
Gyp
. The female hound.
Hilltopper
. A rider who follows the hunt but does not jump. Hill-toppers are also called the
second field
. The jumpers are called the
first flight
.
Hoick
. The huntsman’s cheer to the hounds. It is derived from the Latin
hic haec hoc
, which means
here
.
Hold hard
. To stop immediately.
Huntsman
. The person in charge of the hounds, in the field and in the kennel.
Kennelman
. A hunt staff member who feeds the hounds and cleans the kennels. In wealthy hunts there may be a number of kennelmen. In hunts with a modest budget, the huntsman or even the master cleans the kennels and feeds the hounds.
Lark
. To jump fences unnecessarily when hounds aren’t running. Masters frown on this, since it is often an invitation to an accident.
Lieu in
. Norman term for
go in
.
Lift
. To take the hounds from a lost scent in the hopes of finding a better scent farther on.
Line
. The scent trail of the fox.
Livery
. The uniform worn by the professional members of the hunt staff. Usually it is scarlet, but blue, yellow, brown, and gray are also used. The recent dominance of scarlet has to do with people buying coats off the rack as opposed to having tailors cut them. (When anything is mass-produced, the choices usually dwindle, and such is the case with livery.)
Mask
. The fox’s head.
Meet
. The site where the day’s hunting begins.
MFH
. The master of foxhounds; the individual in charge of the hunt: hiring, firing, landowner relations, opening territory (in large hunts this is the job of the hunt secretary), developing the pack of hounds, and determining the first cast of each meet. As in any leadership position, the master is also the lightning rod for criticism. The master may hunt the hounds, although this is usually done by a professional huntsman, who is also responsible for the hounds in the field and at the kennels. A long relationship between a master and a huntsman allows the hunt to develop and grow.
Nose
. The scenting ability of a hound.
Override
. To press hounds too closely.
Overrun
. When hounds shoot past the line of a scent. Often the scent has been diverted or foiled by a clever fox.
Ratcatcher
. Informal dress worn during cubbing season and bye days.
Stern
. A hound’s tail.
Stiff-necked fox
. One who runs in a straight line.
Strike hounds
. Those hounds who through keenness, nose, and often higher intelligence find the scent first and press it.
Tail hounds
. Those hounds running at the rear of the pack. This is not necessarily because they aren’t keen; they may be older hounds.
Tally-ho
. The cheer when the fox is viewed. Derived from the Norman
ty a hillaut
, thus coming into the English language in 1066.
Tongue
. To vocally pursue a fox.
View halloo (halloa)
. The cry given by a staff member who sees a fox. Staff may also say
tally-ho
or, should the fox turn back,
tally-back
. One reason a different cry may be used by staff, especially in territory where the huntsman can’t see the staff, is that the field in their enthusiasm may cheer something other than a fox.
Vixen
. The female fox.
Walk
. Puppies are
walked out
in the summer and fall of their first year. It’s part of their education and a delight for both puppies and staff.
Whippers-in
. Also called whips, these are the staff members who assist the huntsman, who make sure the hounds “do right.”
B
rilliant strings of moving rubies rolled away in the snow. At least that’s how it looked to Jane Arnold, “Sister,” as she peered out the window of her hotel room at The Pierre. The tail-lights of all those cars crawling down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue sparkled in the dark like rubies. When she was young, she would have seen parallel lines of headlights like diamonds coming toward her as well. Those days were long gone.
“Do you remember when the streets were two-way?” she asked her boyfriend, Gray Lorillard, who was carefully removing items from his Gladstone bag.
“Uh-huh.”
“Do you think creating one-way streets in 1966 really made New York traffic move faster?”
“I do not.” He answered this with conviction, his handsome brow furrowed as he once more reviewed his close items.
“Close” meant small clothing: undershirts, underwear, folded
good shirts, and his Dopp kit, as well as a beautiful calfskin jewelry case (although men never called it that).
“I don’t think it helped either,” she said, turning from the view, “but there were fewer cars then.”
“Fewer people,” he mumbled, searching for something in his bag. “Goddammit.”
“Is this male PMS I’m observing?” she asked, half smirking at him.
He rolled his eyes. “Men don’t have mood swings.”
At this, the elegant seventy-two-year-old woman with the incredible silver hair let out a whoop.
Younger by perhaps seven years—the year of his birth had a habit of sliding backward—Gray, taller than Sister, who was six feet, brushed his steel-gray military moustache while looking in the mirror above the desk. “Well, I don’t have them—it’s well known that I’m even-keeled.”
“Honey, you are smoking opium. You’re a lot moodier than I am.”
Looking at the beautiful woman who never made the slightest attempt to look younger than she was—perhaps one of the reasons she was so striking—Gray shrugged. “Janie, we’re all moodier than you. I’ve never known such a cool customer.”
“I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult.” She crossed the plush carpet and put her arm around his waist. “What’s the problem here?”
“I’m missing one of my studs.”
“Oh no, the chased gold fox-head ones with the ruby eyes?”
“I know I put it in here. I did. You know how meticulous I am.”
“I do.” She bit her tongue because she wanted to say:
And sometimes I wish you were not
. “Maybe it slid behind the lining. Your bag has some years on it.”
“Buy the best. Then you only weep once.” He sat on the side of the bed, taking a deep breath. “I am not going to panic.”
She sat beside him. “Neither am I. Those were your Christmas present three years ago. I bought them from Marion at Horse Country.” The proprietor had sneaked Jane the elegant studs when they’d driven up to buy tack for the staff.
As Master of the Jefferson Hunt, Sister, and her joint-master of three years, Dr. Walter Lungrun, were responsible for “the furnishings”—as horse equipment was properly termed—as well as for the paid staff, which consisted of one huntsman and one whipper-in. Newly added to the payroll, Betty Franklin had served as an honorary, which means amateur, whipper-in for decades.
Betty and her husband faced tightened financial conditions thanks to the sinking economy and the fact that they owned a printing press. Few people patronized true presses anymore so after much discussion, Sister and Walter had worked out the necessary details to give Betty a salary of $25,000. The good woman wept at the offer, tried to refuse, but the two masters insisted. That $25,000 kept the wolf from the Franklins’ door.
“Sugar, if you truly have lost it, I will buy you another,” said Jane.
“I didn’t,” he insisted. “It has to be here.”
“Go back over the last time you saw it.”
“Did that.” He rose, kissed her on the cheek, patted his chest pocket. “Dammit.”
“Your language is going to Hell.”
Her cursing as well made them both laugh.
“My mother would wash my mouth out with soap.” He smiled at the memory of the formidable, late LuAnne Lorillard, a power in the African American community long before integration. Nobody messed with LuAnne without ample opportunity to repent later.