FALLOW-DEER AT HOME 27 



right, for I hear Woodman and Rachel on this 

 side of where those deer passed, and they are 

 coming this way. I take up my rifle and un- 

 bolt the hammer, and my heart beats a trifle 

 quicker, for if the deer does take this line it will 

 not be many minutes before he is here. There 

 he is by the dyke, about 400 yards off, standing 

 and thinking which way he will go next. The 

 dyke is a rough stone wall, at least five feet in 

 height ; but if he means to make across the hill 

 to Large, or to skirt the outside of the wood for 

 the face of Benan, I shall be sure to get a shot 

 at him. For fully a minute he stands hesitating ; 

 and I can see by his long brow antlers, and 

 spreading, but not widely palmated horns, that he 

 is a rare old stager, far superior in weight to the 

 graceful creatures which ornament our English 

 parks. Will he come ? Alas ! it is not to be ; 

 a turn and a bound, and he is off through the 

 brackens and out of my sight ; and I have the 

 mortification of first seeing four of the hounds 

 upon his track, and then hearing them pass below 

 at a distance at which I might almost have shot 

 the deer if it had been possible to see him in the 

 thick cover. 



My chance is gone for the present, but there 

 is one rifle at the end between the two woods, and 

 another in the "park" (Anglice, field) below to 

 the south, and one or other of them will surely 

 get a shot. The first is out of my sight ; but I 



