THE CHASE OF A HIND. 125 



particularly the latter, to see that hounds do not 

 change on to the line of a young male deer. Hinds 

 seem to combine to drive a yearling away from them 

 to meet his fate ; when, therefore, in such circum- 

 stances a single deer goes away from a covert where 

 there are thought to be a good many hinds, it is of 

 the utmost importance that someone should get a 

 sufficiently near view of the deer to be able to warn 

 the huntsman in case it is a yearling. Any single 

 deer should be carefully scrutinised, as a half-beaten 

 hind will sometimes slip away alone after rousing the 

 other deer in the covert, and, if she does so 

 unnoticed, will either escape altogether or obtain a 

 very long start. This is, of course, the primary duty 

 of the whip, unless otherwise engaged, and on running 

 into a covert he would at once ride to a point from 

 which he may best be able to effect this ; but it is a 

 case where experienced members of the hunt may 

 render much valuable help. If hounds get away on 

 the line of a male deer it will probably save the life of 

 a hind, for, even if the mistake is found out after a 

 mile or two, by the time hounds have been brought 

 back the hind will in all probability have slipped 

 away, and, even if a line is recovered, no one can 

 possibly tell whether it is the line of the hunted hind 

 or not. 



If hounds have the misfortune, as must inevitably 

 occur several times in a season (no matter how 

 smart the hunt servants may be) to run a young male 

 deer and pull him over, it is a great mistake to save 



