CHASE OF THE WH.D RED DEER 143 



this, Tom ? You were wrong for once.' ' No, Sir, 

 not I : ril swear it was a stag, and a good one ; 

 but you see he has pushed up the hind and gone 

 down, and we must have him up again.' So the 

 tufters are stopped again, and sent back on heel, 

 and by and by that unmistakable 'yell' which 

 announces a view is heard, and this time the 

 antlered monarch reveals himself to the whole of 

 the assembled multitude. It is but for a moment; 

 again he seeks the depths of the covert, but the 

 tufters rattle him along, and are so close that he 

 has no time for playing tricks, and beyond all doubt 

 must now face the open. We ride towards the spot 

 where in all probability he will break, and as the 

 voices of the hounds come nearer and yet more near, 

 you may almost hear the pulses of the throng 

 of spectators standing by the gate of that large oat- 

 stubble beat with excitement. 



' Hark 1 from yon covert, where those towering oaks 

 Above the humble copse aspiring rise, 

 What glorious triumphs burst in every gale 

 Upon our ravished ears ! The hunters shout, 

 The clanging horns swell their sweet winding notes, 

 *The ' tufters ' opening load the trembling air 

 With various melody ; from tree to tree 

 The propagated cry redoubling bounds.' 



* 'Somervile's Chace,' Bk. II., I. 187— misquoted— it should be 'the 

 pack wide op'ning.' — L. J. B. 



