WAITING FOR THE QUARRY. 195 



cherry, hanging down so as to reveal a row of white teeth 

 uninjured by the tobacco which he had chewed for sixty 

 years, are still before my eyes. From his earliest youth 

 he had been a hunter, and his master had appointed him 

 gamekeeper and head whipper-in at Schooley's Mansion. 

 To examine his bright eye; his thin legs, encased in a 

 pair of boots armed with long spurs ; to see him mounted 

 on a pony whose back bore an upright saddle, his feet 

 resting in huge stirrups, was enough to convince you 

 that he understood his business, and would not suffer us 

 to return home empty. 



" Ah well, Hector, what news 1 Shall we have tolerable 

 sport to day T' said my host to his slave. 



" First-rate !" cried Hector ; " I will show you the great 

 stag ; only you hunters must take care to fire straight." 



" Bravo, my old one ! Crack your whip, and let the 

 hounds go ! On, then, gentlemen," said he, turning 

 towards us ; " take your guns, and choose your places." 



In a few minutes the hounds were uncoupled, and we 

 found it no easy task to keep up with them, even at full 

 gallop and on a straight road. At length, doubling 

 round a rock, they plunged into the wood, and at a sign 

 from the whipper-in, as had been previously agreed, we 

 placed ourselves at fifty yards from one another. 



I glided under a gigantic oak, whose branches sheltered 

 me, and concealed me from all eyes. Before me a narrow 

 avenue opened into the forest, which, according to my 

 knowledge of the chase, ought to form a good road for 

 the deer. I experienced an emotion which every hunter 

 will readily comprehend, an emotion blended with fea,r ; 

 for I knew I had as many chances of receiving a stray 

 bullet in my head as of seeing a deer within range. 



