io6 THE RED DEER OE EXMOOR. 



In 1 S99 the end of the big run from Hawkridge took 

 place on the same spot. The stag stood among the 

 bushes and drove back the hounds, but thev gradually 

 forced him back, and though the Master and another 

 just touched his antlers as he went over, they could 

 not hold him. and one hound on that occasion 

 shared his fate. 



The swimming power of a stag is very great, and 

 the buovancv of his body is remarkable, for he 

 floats verv higrh in the water even when burdened 

 with a heavy pair of antlers. 



It is a fine sight on a bright autumn day to see a 

 gallant stag swimming stoutly out to sea with 

 the pack close behind him, giving tongue merrily, 

 but it is an anxious time for the Master and hunts- 

 man. A prolonged swim in cold water, even though 

 sea water, is by no means good for hounds after a 

 long and arduous chase, and every effort is made to 

 call them back. The puppies are in the worst 

 danger, for they try to come straight in to the horn, 

 and as the tidewav in the Bristol Channel runs like a 

 mill-race thev sometimes reach the shore in a most 

 exhausted condition, while the older hounds, who 

 have been to sea before, do not attempt to fight the 

 current, but come ashore where they can. As a 

 rule the stoutest hounds turn back for the shore 

 after four or five hundred yards, probably because 

 they lose sight of the stag, which easilv swims away 

 from them. There was a most anxious time on 

 the beach below St. Andries in 1899. Hounds had 



