56 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN 



getting the deer out that way. In the midst of it all, and 

 expecting more hounds in at the window, unless my brother 

 and Henry Wombwell were quick in getting them away, I was 

 almost at my wits' end ; however, calling on the spectator who 

 was parading the picture, for heaven's sake, at least, to turn it 

 the other way, or the first thing the ancestral countenance would 

 have would be the horns of the stag through it, in motion as the 

 bearer kept it, I caught the hounds and led them out. The 

 stag being quiet, and having sent all sorts of apologies up to 

 Lady Mary, I reported that the state of the window would not 

 admit of the stag's egress, unless I was permitted to enlarge the 

 aperture, while, at the same time, fresh and powerful as the stag 

 was, it would be dangerous to attempt to lead him through the 

 conservatory. The reply to my apologies and to this report 

 was the best-natured and kind that could be. She said "she 

 did not in the least care for the accident, that I could not help 

 it, and, if necessary, I was to enlarge the fracture in the window 

 as much as I pleased," the only stipulation being that, " when 

 the stag regained his liberty, the hounds were to be laid on on 

 the lawn, that she might see them running." Having returned 

 to the scene of action and disengaged my sporting friend from 

 the ancestral picture, and placed it in safety, we knocked away 

 the stanchions of the window sufficiently to let the deer through, 

 and having borrowed a door from the offices by way of more 

 fitting shield, I got the stag out, and laid the hounds on at the 

 window. 



The chase, particularly when a deer, by being housed, had 

 learned there was safety in it, frequently ended in mansions, 

 cottages, or barns, and I cannot help saying that, in almost every 

 instance, I met with the greatest good-nature. On one of these 

 occasions we ran up to the entrance of a gentleman's kitchen, 

 in the rear of his premises, and the hounds bayed at the closed 

 door. Heads of domestics through the pantry window informed 

 me that the stag was in the house, and that they would admit 

 me " if I would keep the dogs out, as the children were afraid 

 of them." The door being opened and closed carefully behind 



