102 THE OUT-STATION; OR, 



ment, and the dogs he used were a species of lurcher 

 (half staghound, half greyhound, in appearance), and 

 many a deer have I seen pulled down by them in the 

 course of a couple of hours. 



Mounting our horses as soon as it was light, we 

 would start in any direction we choose, being certain 

 of finding as many deer as we could possibly desire ; 

 in short, the chief difficulty consisted in getting the 

 hounds to settle down to one deer out of a herd of, 

 probably, several hundreds. The only plan of doing 

 this was by sending a man forward after we had 

 viewed a herd, to head them when we had once started 

 them, and so, by being thrown into confusion, we 

 might by chance get one fellow to " take a line of his 

 own," and then let slip at him. 



It is a beautiful sight to behold herds upon herds 

 of these graceful animals wandering forth, by the 

 first light of morning, in quest of their daily food, 

 some bounding at full gallop, of their own free will, 

 over the plain, bound on some private pilgrimage of 

 their own ; whilst others are strolling heedlessly about, 

 or quietly grazing, until the rushing past of another 

 herd arrests their attention, and as they stand with 

 ears pricked and head erect, we take advantage of 

 their abstraction to "bear down upon them/ 7 and 

 away we go ! horses, riders, dogs, and deer, at a rate 

 that would soon " put a girdle round the earth, " if 

 kept up till that event the niggers following as fast 

 as they can on foot ; and, to do them justice, I must 



