THE CHASE OF A HIND. 12 j 



command. Hounds swung to the right on the hill- 

 top, and, looking forward, we saw a young male deer 

 galloping hard back to Langcombe Head. Anthony 

 got to his hounds and stopped all but the leading 

 couple, and as there was no chance of getting to 

 them over the wet ground they were allowed to go 

 chiming merrily on their way to the coverts beyond 

 Stoke Pero. We were a party of five, and had five 

 couple of hounds with us as w^e plunged into the belt 

 of mist on the hill-top. We had come through it 

 before down wind, this time we struggled through it 

 up the wind. Hounds soon had a line near where 

 the hinds had turned away from the male deer, and 

 we were galloping once more. The ground on Dun- 

 kery is not the best of going, but there was no time 

 to think of that or to pick one's way, for in the 

 hurricane belt it was impossible to hear a sound of 

 any kind ; even the horn was inaudible about four 

 lengths off when down wind, so that if one let the 

 flying five couple in front get out of sight — a 

 matter, at the outside, of 250 yards — there was a 

 strong probability that one might never find them 

 again at all. Coming out of the fog into clear rain, w^e 

 could see to our disgust a couple of good stags 

 going away in front. Luckily they turned short, so 

 there was no difficulty in stopping hounds. Anthony 

 felt sure the hinds had gone on, so he cast forward 

 round Bincombe, and near the head of Anniscombe 

 we saw about twenty deer in a herd ; so hounds were 

 laid on close behind them, and away we went once 



