CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 87 



whereof our chance of success and enjoyment this 

 day mainly depends. 



Let us fix as a date the 30th of August, time 

 4.30 a.m. Scene, outside the lovely cottage of 

 James Blackmore, planted on the outskirts of the 

 deep Haddon woods. The door opens, and forth 

 in the drizzly rain stalks the best and most enthusi- 

 astic of his class and calling. We will pass over 

 the four or five dreary miles which lie between 

 the cot and the scene of the morning's labours, 

 and again take up our friend as he peers cautiously 

 through the hedge of the large turnip-field which 



lies between the road and wood. He turns 



away after strict scrutiny. There are none of the 

 brown-coated herd to be seen in that favourite 

 feeding place. Onward he goes down the lane, 

 and carefully examines the field of oats which he 

 knows to be the favourite pasture of the deer. 

 Again he is doomed to disappointment, and after 

 marking the quarter from which the wind blows, 

 and finding that the wind is full in his face, and 

 therefore blows from the covert, he steals into the 

 oat-field, and down he goes by the side of the 

 hedge towards the wood, his eyes bent steadfastly 

 on the ground. He knows, though he has never 

 read 'The Art of Venerie,' that 'the hart hath a 



