CHAPTER TWENTY SANDHILLS 



who had got together tired of waiting, and were discussing 

 the price of railway-sleepers, c!5^c. The deer stood watching 

 them for some minutes,tillthehounds came within fifty yards 

 of him in the thicket behind him; the gentlemen, hearing 

 the dogs, ran to their respective posts,and the roe came down 

 the brae, passed between them unobserved, and crossed the 

 water again; the dogs full cry and all together immediately 

 behindthem. Harkaway! Harkaway! wasthecry.andaway 

 they did go, in a straight line towards the sea-shore. The 

 buck (whom I constantly saw) appeared quite bewildered 

 and was evidentlygettingdistressed;afteratwenty minutes' 

 burstalongtheshore and theopenpartofthecover,he turned 

 back and passed me within a hundred yards at a slow canter 

 — the hounds had got well warmed to their work, and never 

 lost the scent for a moment. The buck, after a great many 

 turns and windings, was fairly driven to the swamp again, 

 which he crossed thistime quite slowly.stoppinginthewater 

 every now and then, as if to cool himself; but the dogs did 

 not leave him much time, and were soon at the edge of the 

 water. The buck crouched down in the middle of a small 

 heath-covered island in the water, which was here of a con- 

 siderable width : the hounds, however, went right across the 

 water, and began trying for the scent along the opposite 

 edge. I had seen the roe stop where he was, and ran down 

 to call the hounds back, but before I could do so, one of the 

 pack, a very excellent young bitch, whom I had got from 

 the New Forest in Hampshire, gavea cast and got the wind 

 of the roe, giving a quiet cheep, sufficient however to warn 

 the rest of the pack, who all joined her; she trotted through 

 the water straight up to the island, and very soon the whole 

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