BEASTS OF THE CHASE. THE STAG. 45 



viewed the deer. Presently he observes them, only for a 

 second, cantering back in the same direction from whence they 

 came, but he cannot distinguish them. Nothing daunted, he 

 will not leave his post until half-past nine o'clock. Cramped, 

 cold, and not a little disappointed, he climbs down and walks 

 briskly off to the feeding ground. He does not enter it at 

 once, but examines the fences and their approaches with 

 scrupulous care. Everything is against him ; the ground has 

 been so hard for the past month that no mark of a slot can be 

 detected. But he has other resources at his command. 



He first enters the oat and grass inclosure, but no deer 

 have been there. He then explores the turnip field, and this 

 reveals to him the cause of the boy's visit. A load of turnips 

 has been carted away from the part next the gate. No sign of 

 damage done by the deer is discernible here. However, he 

 strolls on hopefully, examining every turnip, until his eyes rest 

 on a patch of ground strewed with turnips lying with their roots 

 uppermost. 



A glow of triumph lights up his face, for he knows that a 

 stag did this. Yes ; there are his marks ! Every turnip bitten 

 once, and once only. No hind has worked such purposeless 

 havoc. 



The rain will have rendered the ground soft enough to make 

 the stag's slot sufficiently clear to a vision as acute as his. So 

 he hurries off to the inclosure, where he left the pony some 

 five hours ago, and, having mounted, jogs off to the ford, 

 which he crossed in the early morning. 



There a circuit of the western slope of the ravine is made. 

 Every path and piece of turf is minutely examined, without 

 revealing the much-wished-for confirmation of the evidence in 

 the turnip field until the point where he had viewed the deer is 

 reached. 



Here the slots are distinct ; but further search has to be 

 made before the slot of a stag is discovered. There it is, 

 broad at the heels and blunt at the toes ! It is quite fresh and 

 deeper than the slots of his companions. ' He is a big, heavy 



