CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 91 



print remains carefully taken up, and away goes the 

 harbourer with care round the wood, to satisfy 

 himself as far as possible that the stag has not gone 

 through it. He finds no sign of the deer having 

 broken covert, and with his precious sod in his 

 hand, homewards he wends his way. The meet 

 is at the kennel,* and there, when the first red coat 

 arrives, Jem may be seen surrounded by a gathering 

 of admiring pedestrians crowding round the trophy 

 brought home from the field, and talking learnedly 

 upon the size and age of the deer, his rights, etc., 

 etc., with the earnestness and excitement which a 

 participation, however slight, in the sport of stag- 

 hunting never fails to arouse amongst all classes 

 in the country. ' Where did you slot him, Jem ? ' 

 is a question put a hundred times. But Jem is 

 too cautious to give more than a very general 

 answer to the query, lest the enthusiastic crowd of 

 pedestrians should at once adjourn to the scene of 

 action, and by approaching the lair of the stag too 

 nearly, and coming * betwixt the wind and his 



deer, but this of course varies much, according to the hardness or 

 softness of the soil in which the track is made, the pace at which the 

 deer is going, etc. 



* The kennels up to 1S61 were at Jury, close to Dulverton ; the 

 pack was then moved into the Rhyll Kennels, four miles west of 

 Dulverton.— L. J. B. 



