" Smut." 155 



In describing the sport, I must be permitted to call 

 up the spirits of a few heroes, who are now dead, and 

 place them in the vacant places which they formerly 

 occupied in the pack. 



The first who answers to the magic call is " Smut," 

 hero of at least four hundred deaths of elk and boar. 

 He appears — the same well-remembered form of 

 strength, the sullen growl which greeted even his 

 master, the numerous scars and seams upon his body : 

 behold old " Smut !" His sire was a Manilla blood- 

 hound, which accounted for the extreme ferocity of the 

 son. His courage was indomitable, He was a large 

 dog, but not high, considering his great length, but his 

 limbs were immense in proportion. His height at the 

 shoulder was 262 inches ; his girth of brisket 34 inches. 

 In his younger days he always opened upon a scent, 

 and the rocky mountains and deep valleys have often 

 echoed back his deep notes, which have now, like him- 

 self, passed away. As he grew older he became cun- 

 ning, and he ran entirely mute, knowing well that the 

 more noise the elk heard behind him the faster he 

 would run. I have frequently known him to be out 

 by himself all night, and return the next morning 

 blown out with food which he had procured for him- 

 self by pulling down a doe single-handed. When he 

 was a young dog, and gave tongue upon a scent, a 

 challenge was offered, but never accepted, that the dog 

 should find, hunt and pull down two buck elk, single- 

 handed, within a fortnight, assisted only by his master, 

 with no other weapon than a hunting-knife : there is 

 no doubt whatever that he would have performed it 

 easily. He then belonged to Lieut. Pardoe, of the 

 Fifteenth regiment. 



