THE BLOODHOUND, DRUID. 249 



made her out, and then again recovered the line, from 

 which, for a space, he had deviated. Going thus at a 

 foot's pace, and of course in thickets and fern losing 

 sight of the hound, I often found him behind me, 

 returning to make himself sure, and when on the 

 certain spot, he would give one roar, and then de- 

 note the line again with nothing more than a flourish 

 and feather of his sweeping stern. In one place 

 in Wotton the scent freshened, where I had no 

 doubt the deer had waited ; but then it died away, 

 and on one of the rides we had a long check. A 

 dozen times or more Druid returned to a spot, but 

 beyond that he could not go on ; I suspected the doe 

 had come into the ride, and kept it some distance, 

 and then that some foil had followed her steps, to the 

 detriment of Druid's nose ; however, he righted him- 

 self at last, and took the line decidedly into another 

 quarter of the cover. On seeing him do this, I ran 

 round to the opposite ride, to give him the meeting ; 

 and having posted myself, I heard him fling his 

 tongue, and, my ear told me, coming towards where 

 I stood ; there then was a long silence, but at length 

 the angry yell, the booming of his full tongue, and 

 the bound of the roused doe, distinctly reached me, 

 all coming towards where I stood, and in another mo- 

 ment she paused in the bushes, dead beat, and I shot 

 her through the head at four o'clock, when she be- 

 came as stiff as a hunted fox. My experience in this 

 peculiar method of hunting teaches me that a deer 

 slowly pursued by a bloodhound will do as I have 

 seen hares do in cold scents with harriers ; when 

 beaten, their last eftort will be a strong one ; they 

 will go farther and faster before they lay up than 

 they have gone before ; but if that effort is mas- 



