208 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. 



ascend till lost in the level surface of the moor. Never 

 go down into these until your deer is sinking. So 

 surely as you descend will you have to climb the 

 opposite rise ; rather keep round them towards the top, 

 watching the hounds while they thread a thousand 

 intricacies of rock, heather, and scattered copse-wood, 

 so as to meet them when they emerge, which they will 

 surely do on the upper level, for it is the nature of their 

 quarry to rise ' the hill aslant, and seek safety, when 

 pressed, in its speed across the flat. 



A deer descends these declivities one after another as 

 they come, but it is for the refreshment of a bath in 

 their waters below, and instinct prompts it to return 

 without delay to higher ground when thus invigorated. 

 Only if completely beaten and exhausted, does it become 

 so confused as to attempt scaling a rise in a direct line. 

 The run is over then, and you may turn you horse's head 

 to the wind, for in a furlong or two the game will falter and 

 come down again amongst its pursuers to stand at bay. 



Coast your " combes," therefore, judiciously, and spare 

 your horse ; so shall you cross the heather in thorough 

 enjoyment of the chase till it leads you perhaps to the 

 grassy swamps of Exmoor, the most plausible line in 

 the world, over which hounds run their hardest and 

 now look out ! 



