CHASE OF THE WH.D RED DEER 145 



Like crested leader, proud and high, 



Toss'd his beamed frontlet to the sky ; 



A moment gazed adown the dale, 



A moment snuffed the tainted gale ; 



A moment listened to the cry 



That thickened as the chase drew nigh ; 



Then as the headmost foes appeared. 



With one brave bound the copse he cleared.' 



There ! you have seen a wild stag break covert, 

 and stretch away over the open. Did you ever see 

 a finer sight — did you mark well the beauty of his 

 action as he bounded from the fence of the wood ? 

 Did you not view with admiration his stately form 

 as he gazed on the hunters drawn up at the gate — 

 the momentary pause, ere he stalked a few strides, 

 as if to show that he feared us not ? Was not the 

 bounding trot into which he then broke the very 

 ' poetry of motion ' ? And when at length he ex- 

 changed it for a long, easy, steady gallop, did you 

 ever witness movement more elastic and graceful } 



Now, my friends, draw your girths, lend your aid 

 to stop the tufters, and make up your minds for a 

 run. If you see that stag again this side of 

 Brendon Barton (unless by chance we fall in with 

 him, and he is ' set up,' brought to bay, that is, in 

 Badgeworthy Water), I am very much mistaken. 

 The tufters are stopped, not without some difficulty. 



K 



