340 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



the hills, generally keeping to the roughest and stoniest 

 ground, and following the course of ravines as much as 

 possible; it does not dash boldly upward, however, but 

 swings around the hill, generally moving from right to 

 left, and doubling when necessary, and, if hard pressed, it 

 makes for some convenient river or lake. Then it is that 

 the hunters have an opportunity of firing at it; and, if they 

 are at all expert with the shot-gun, they may tumble it over 

 with a dozen buckshot as it flees past them, or they may 

 cause it to halt by a whistle, and kill it while it is trying 

 to analyze the import of the strange sound. If it reaches 

 open ground, some persons pursue it on horseback ; and if 

 their steeds have any speed worth mentioning they are sure 

 to get within shooting range of it, for a deer is by no means 

 the ideal of swiftness which it is often assumed to be. 

 Even when fresh, a good horse will push it hard on fair 

 running ground ; but in a rugged country it has all the ad- 

 vantages in its favor, as it seems to run as well on one kind 

 as on the other. 



When the quarry is killed, a joyous shout or a blast on 

 the mellow horn announces the event, and dogs and men 

 assemble to gaze on the trophy. The successful Nimrod 

 is congratulated ; a dose of something stronger than tea is 

 generally partaken of in honor of the event ; and the pack 

 is sent out to make another cast, when the same hurrying 

 and scurrying to and fro is indulged in until the quarry is 

 either slain or escapes to the water. If it takes to a river, 

 it floats down with the current for a short distance, and 

 scrambles out on the opposite bank; but if it has been 

 driven hard, it frequently stays in the water under the 

 shelter of friendly branches, even if the hounds are giving 

 tongue within a few feet of it. Its head is all that is visi- 

 ble on such occasions ; so he who would detect its hiding- 

 place must carefully scan the water. If the wind is blow- 

 ing from its direction, experienced hounds will follow it in 

 the river almost as well as they would on land, and they 

 frequently kill it there. On such occasions the stags fight 

 bravely for their lives, and often kill some of their assail- 



