CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 97 



the value of a trustworthy servant to whom the 

 task to which I am now referring can be safely 

 confided. 



The reorular fee to the harbourer, when a stac is 

 roused, is a sovereign ; and when the man does his 

 duty properly, the fee is fairly earned. The prospect 

 of gold induces ' irregulars ' often to assume the 

 office, for which they are wholly unfitted, and deep 

 is the disappointment which is often caused by the 

 assertions of these pretenders. A man will some- 

 times come to the master and swear by all that is 

 holy, that he has harboured a good stag in some 

 particular wood, having no other ground whatever 

 for making the statement, probably, than that of 

 having seen a young male deer, or hind, near the 

 wood some days before, which he chooses to assume 

 may be lying in the covert ; possibly from having 

 seen the print of a young bullock's or pig's foot, 

 which he has mistaken for a slot. I once knew the 

 hounds taken miles out of their way by a man who 

 declared he knew where a stag was to be found, for 

 he had seen him lie down in the grey of the morn- 

 ing, and when the hounds reached the spot pointed 

 out by the 'harbourer,' we roused — a donkey ! 



Blackmore, of whom I have spoken, has now 

 been accustomed to harbour deer for forty years. 



