DEER IN SUMMER. 69 



A high projecting rock, or a narrow path 

 that will only permit the hounds to approach 

 them in one direction, is a fortress. A stag 

 can face the hounds and defend himself 

 with his terrible brow-points so long as 

 they are obliged to meet him. But he 

 knows he cannot fight successfully if as- 

 sailed from all sides ; baffled by so many, 

 he is ultimately pulled down. So the stag 

 chooses an isolated rock, or a narrow foot- 

 path, as at Glenthorne, with inaccessible 

 rocky walls above and beneath, and then 

 turns on his pursuers. As he runs he 

 thinks, and reviews in his mind the various 

 places he has visited previously. His course 

 is not determined by accident but by fore- 

 thought. He sees the river in his mind, 

 the river at which he has so often quenched 

 his thirst, and fleetly travels towards it. 

 He remembers the rock, or the precipitous 

 footpath, and hastens thither. He thinks 



