68 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 



blows mingled Avitli the yells of liouiids made me 

 look round, and I saw a young man livid with rage, 

 with one leg, supporting himself on one crutch, while 

 sledi^ehammer like, with the other he felled every 

 hound he could get near. He had not his wooden 

 leo- on, so I wrenched the crutch from him on which 



CD / 



lie leaned ; but to my surprise, he commenced a series 

 of quick and violent hoppings, laying about him still. 

 I had nothing left for it, but to secure the other 

 crutch and let him softly down. The deer taken, and 

 the elderly man, Avho proved to be the father of the 

 cripple, having caught his wind, of which for a thne 

 only the stag had deprived him, 1 reasoned with them 

 on their folly, and the poor fellow, now restored to 

 his crutclies, assured me that the cause of his vio- 

 lence was that he thought his father had been killed. 

 I gave them some silver, and we parted good friends. 

 Another instance worth remarking occurred at Lady 

 Mary Hussey's, who lived near Hillingdon. A stag, 

 quite fresh, and of whom the hounds had suddenly 

 obtained a view, came tearing along under the garden 

 wall, among the shrubs, till he found himself in con- 

 tact with one side of a bay window : through this he 

 went, with two or three hounds each side of him ; and 

 instead of going out at the other side of the window, 

 he turned, and ran to the further end of the drawing- 

 room, in which I believe Lady Mary Hussey and 

 other ladies were seated. It was enough to have 

 scared a man, and this sudden crash and furious ap- 

 parition of course had a startling effect on the ladies. 

 Seeing the mischief to the window, I Avas off my horse 

 immediately, cap in hand, to make a thousand apolo- 

 gies ; but my lirst act was to get the stag out, and 

 prevent further damage. On entering the drawing- 



