420 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CHAP. 



plains. Before dawn, after feeding throughout the night, it drank, 

 and then returned to the depths of the forests. The stags gener- 

 ally ascended to considerable heights upon the mountains, and 

 wherever there were bluff and overhanging rocks, there was sure 

 to be an asylum much frequented. 



It was a rule to start with the hounds in couples, to avoid 

 trouble and delay, as young hounds would probably stray off upon 

 some forbidden scent. 



Upon arrival in a secluded plain, the course was always directed 

 towards the stream, as the sambur would have drunk at the last 

 moment before retiring to the jungle. The scent would therefore 

 be freshest near the bank. 



The hounds would be thrown off upon the plain ; sometimes 

 two or more pups would be retained in couples, and only released 

 when there should be "a find." 



It was an inspiriting sight to see the foxhounds, or those crossed 

 with pointer or blood-hound, take the lead, and instinctively dash 

 along the margin of the stream. Old Bluebeard was the hound 

 in which the pack believed, and when he spoke after feathering 

 along the bottom, with stern erect and nose to the ground, there 

 was a general rush towards the spot by every dog, no matter what 

 his breed ; they were all believers. The couples were at once 

 released, and away went the pups to the halloo of " Hark to Blue- 

 beard ! " The deep notes of the old hound were quickly heard far 

 up the mountain side, chorused by the voices of the pack as they 

 followed hard upon the scent. 



In the meantime where was the noble stag? He was by this 

 time standing somewhere high upon the hill, but happily at some 

 distance from the crest. With a paunch full of green food, the 

 gluttony of a night, and a gallon or so of water taken when he 

 quitted the river's bank, he had been disposing himself for sleep, 

 when his attention was aroused by the excited voices of the hounds. 

 If any human eye could have regarded him, he would have been 

 seen standing with uplifted nose and well-pricked ears, listening to 

 what was music to us, but the death-knell to a deer. When 

 attentive to the distant voices, quite half a mile away, he little 

 dreamt that long-legged mute hounds were far in advance upon 

 the scent. Here we see the advantage of the cross with greyhound 

 and foxhound, or blood-hound. Those dogs would follow by scent 

 or sight, but would never open. Much faster than other hounds 

 which composed the pack, they went ahead, and gained a position 

 close to the stag before he knew that danger was nearer than the 

 chorus to which he listened at a distance. Sometimes I feel sure 



