THE HUNTED STAG. 141 



stags, without losing the original trail. Some 

 think that the deer have observed that they 

 are hunted at two different seasons, and that 

 the stags in the hind season do but just 

 move out of the way of the pack, while in 

 the stag season the hinds step aside and let 

 the chase go by without sign of alarm. 



Once now and then it happens that a 

 stag hard pressed leaps from the rocks into 

 the sea. Pursued and hopeless of escape, 

 when he finds that speed cannot distance the 

 hounds, he returns circling towards the crags 

 which overhang the Channel. The paths are 

 narrow, the precipices deep, and the walls of 

 rock steep, so that if he chances to follow a 

 path among them he cannot choose but go 

 forwards ; the hounds behind bar retreat. 

 There is no turning back, and, wild and 

 desperate in his haste, he leaps from the 

 edge of the chasm, or perhaps is in space 

 before he knows where he is going. 



The nearest hound often follows, and once 

 it was observed that a hound which came 



