138 THE DEER FAMILY 



vants, who manage the dogs and act as beaters to drive 

 out the deer to the sportsmen who are on the lookout 

 for them. 



The following description of the hounds and horse, 

 the country and the chase, will give the reader a very 

 good idea of Southern methods : 



" Old Bob had been waiting for us with coffee for 

 half an hour, and as soon as we were refreshed he 

 called the dogs. Nancy, a blue-colored bitch ; Music, 

 the sweetest-voiced red hound that ever ' tolled a bell '; 

 and old Rattler, a big rawboned ranger, were the lead- 

 ers, with six or eight puppies who were just beginning 

 to learn the game. After we had gone a couple of 

 miles horns began sounding. Now if there is any- 

 thing on earth elusive to a greenhorn it is a deer- 

 horn, which is really an old cow-horn open at both 

 ends. In the first place, it simply can't be blown by 

 an3^one but an old deer-hunter. I blew into both ends 

 of one, but nothing more than a gurgle came out. Old 

 Bob put that horn to his lips and there came forth the 

 sweetest sound, it seemed to me, that ever mortal lis- 

 tened to, but with the peculiarity that if you turned 

 your back to it you could not tell whether it was a 

 rod or a block away. When the other horns sounded 

 I had not the slightest idea where or how far away 

 they were, but those old fellows called the names of 

 the blower of every horn, and said they knew to 

 within a hundred yards of where each was. Which 

 I did not believe, but after found to be true. 



" We trotted forward for a mile or more down an 

 unused logging-trail, through the prettiest country 

 imaginable. It was just where the foot-hills leave off 



