84 THE RED DEER OF EXMOOR. 



fails to visit, and in such spots as Clannacombe, 

 Woodcock Combe, or Bincombe rarely fails to put up 

 a substitute. Then, and not till then, the huntsman 

 is wanted. He will watch the rising ground opposite 

 to see if he can see the fresh deer — hinds in all 

 probability — and will gallop on to get a look up and 

 down the water in the valley. Then will be the time 

 to notice whether the same hound brings the line out 

 of the little combe who was leading when they ran 

 in. The hunted stag may have lain down — he may 

 have gone on in company with the fresh deer, or he 

 may have soiled in the river and gone down stream, 

 landing again lower down to turn out more fresh 

 deer. Such are the problems which present them- 

 selves to the huntsman at every turn, and he has to 

 make up his mind quickly, for an eager field is already 

 arriving on the spot — a field of whom a large portion 

 will only partly appreciate the difficulty ; and another 

 portion is desperately afraid of being left behind, and 

 so is doubly keen to get forward at a check. 



Next to fresh deer, water is the greatest difficulty 

 a huntsman has to contend with, and it is in working 

 the water that he can sometimes show the highest 

 skill. Every hunted stag is certain sooner or later to 

 " soil " or come to water, if he can find any, but the 

 ways in which deer utilise the water to throw off pursuit 

 are many and various, depending much on whether 

 the stag is, to use the local expression, "properly 

 run up " or not. If he is, he probably blunders pain- 

 fully down the stream till he comes to some deep 



