ELK HUNTING 



game path we had come up by, on his way nearly knocking 

 over the dog boys who had been delayed by bringing up 

 the seizers. It was now past 8 o'clock, and the stag had 

 got his wind. He was going very strong, heading towards 

 the Horton Plains ! The jungle here was too dense with 

 brambles and scrub for the seizers to have a fair chance of 

 tackling him, so they were held up until the pack should 

 once more bring him to bay. This took longer than was 

 anticipated, and after a fast run of about twenty minutes, 

 mostly downhill, the whole pack threw up their heads on a 

 piece of dry rocky ground, where pigs had been working a 

 few hours before. The check, however, was a very short 

 one, and Comic's light note was heard about 200 yards 

 away an absolutely reliable hound, a virtue freely acknow- 

 ledged by the whole pack as they all dashed forward to 

 her cry. 



The stag here had taken a turn left handed, and sunk 

 the hollow of Onion Patina, now half a mile ahead. Taking 

 advantage of a well-beaten elephant path, the field followed 

 in single file close upon the heels of the pack, but before 

 the heavy forest between Onion and Long Patinas had 

 been reached, all sound of hounds was lost. However, a 

 knowledge of the country and of the run of a hunted stag 

 soon decided us as to our point. Slipping down a grassy 

 gorge to the head of Baker's Falls, we climbed the opposite 

 steep slope of a patna knoll. Hardly had we reached the 

 summit when a grand stag was viewed stealing down a strip 

 of grass leading from Long Patina. As he showed in the 

 open, Smiler and Wallace viewed him and strained at their 

 leashes to be slipped. Down the hill they flew to meet the 

 stag, who made for a large pool below him at a lumbering 

 gallop. He reached his point a second or two before the 

 long-dogs, and with a mighty splash was soon in deep 



185 



