TRACKING DEER BY SLOT. 105 



but live is the right age. The ' harbourer ' 

 consequently lias two main questions to de- 

 termine, and to determine with absolute 

 accuracy ; first, he has to choose a stag of 

 the proper age, and next to fix on the exact 

 spot where that stag will be at a given time. 

 The ' harbourer ' must not say he ' thinks ' a 

 stag is in such and such a place, nor that he 

 ' thinks ' he is runnable. There are perhaps 

 three hundred gentlemen on horseback 

 waiting eagerly for the sport to begin ; the 

 pack is shut up for the moment in a form- 

 yard, having travelled over from the kennels; 

 the Master and the huntsman are there ; and 

 no one will brook indecision. He has to 

 bring an accurate report, and must be posi- 

 tively sure. He must not think ; he must 

 know. 



Some of the covers, as that at Haddon, 

 reach five miles of unbroken woodland, and 

 it may be imagined that these are no easy 

 questions to answer. The task is often 

 rendered more difficult by accidents of 



