26 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN 



Deer are often the cause of much trouble to a 

 huntsman with a pack of fox-hounds, and although 

 he may flatter himself that he has got the steadiest 

 pack possible, the most trifling accident may make 

 them otherwise. And young hounds cannot be 

 taken too often amongst deer during the summer 

 before they are entered, and they should not be 

 taken out to exercise with the old hounds till just 

 before cub-hunting, if they are at all before that 

 begins, by which time they ought to be tolerably 

 handy and thoroughly used to see riot. But the 

 following account of an accident with the writer's 

 pack will probably be sufficient to make others 

 more cautious. At the end of the summer in the 

 month of August, when the writer was from home, 

 his men, to save trouble, unknown to him took 

 out the young hounds with the old ones to exercise, 

 and were passing through a park full of deer, 

 where they had constantly been all the summer 

 without having shown the slightest sign of riot. 

 On going through some fern a young hare jumped 

 up, and some of the young hounds took after 

 her, directly into a herd of deer. The men foolishly 

 rode after them, rating them at the same time. 

 This set the deer running, and with them the 

 young hounds, and by hallooing to them some of 

 the two- and three-year hunters broke away. This 

 caused them to halloo more, so that at last the 



