22 HUNTING CAMPS. 



the top of my speed towards the guanaco. As he 

 leaped up the dogs saw him and got a splendid start. 

 The buck made off along the lake-shore to the right, 

 and, waiting for no more, I ran for my horse. By the 

 time I had mounted the chase had disappeared, but, 

 galloping to the summit of the incline, I almost ran 

 into the guanaco, who was coming round in a circle. 

 He was travelling at high speed and quite holding his 

 own with Tom. The double he made to evade me 

 brought the dogs within fifty yards of him, and I, 

 pressing my horse, was soon not much behind them. 

 For the first half-mile the ground was so blind with 

 dense scrub that it was all in favour of the buck, but 

 presently leaving this we passed out on to the long, 

 rolling, open pampa, where Tom began to gain, and, 

 taking the ground magnificently, closed in on the 

 guanaco, passing him and snapping at his throat. The 

 buck swerved, and Chichi, taking advantage of the 

 movement, seized a flank, throwing the buck off his 

 balance, when Tom went in and caught him by the 

 throat. The guanaco at bay can, however, be a nasty 

 antagonist for hounds, so pulling up I finished the 

 affair with a shot. 



After this encounter with the buck Tom improved in 

 every way, eventually gaining some very honourable 

 wounds in a combat with a Magellan wolf. I found 

 that long runs pressed hard on the hounds, as the thorns 

 and stones left them sorefooted. In fact, unless they 

 ran into the guanaco within the first four hundred yards, 

 the chase generally ended in the quarry getting clear 

 away, more especially if the ground was at all steep. 

 In running ostriches the same facts hold good, though 

 with the birds, if the dogs failed to obtain a fair start, 



