250 IN FOREST AND ON HILL 



after indulging in the host's admirable claret, his guests 

 had adjourned to the vaulted smoking-room. For 

 there is one undeniable advantage in a roe-hunt as 

 every man has his solitary station, removed from the 

 jealous eyes of his neighbour, the narration of his 

 personal exploits is an affair between himself and his 

 conscience. He may drop a judicious veil over the 

 misses and give generous scope to the frolics of his 

 fancy. 



At the same time, for a quieter kind of pleasure, to 

 say nothing of making surer and more deadly work, 

 there is nothing like shooting roe alone or with a single 

 safe companion. You slip silently and stealthily to 

 your places, sending into the cover the staunch old 

 hound, who is all the better for your purpose if he be 

 stiff in the joints. The first faint hesitating whimper 

 grows into a deep-mouthed bay as the dog gets fairly 

 on the foot of the roe, who are bounding through the 

 bushes ahead of him. You make a rush for the direc- 

 tion in which they are coming round, for the roe has a 

 suicidal habit of running in circles. And then from 

 the crest of some commanding knoll, where your 

 shooting-dress blends with the leaves and the branches, 

 you stand motionless, with 'pricked ears and half- 

 levelled piece, watching the openings within easy 

 gunshot. Nothing is more noteworthy than the ex- 

 traordinary stealthiness with which the roe will thread 

 its way through the thickest and most tangled cover. 

 You hear the dog crashing along through the under- 

 growth, and yet not a sound may have reached you 



