172 A DAY AT CHEE-HA. 



themselves we must either leave our ground, and 

 in that case incur the risk of sharing the same fate 

 in our next drive ; or, we must beat up the ground 

 now before us in a way which our predecessors in 

 the field had probably neglected to do. We chose 

 the latter part : and finding that the drive embraced 

 two descriptions of ground first, the main wood, 

 which we inferred had already been taken, and next, 

 the briery thickets that skirted a contiguous old 

 field into these thickets we pushed. ISTor had we 

 entered far, before the long, deep, querulous note 

 of " Ruler," as he challenged on a trail, told us to 

 expect the game. A few minutes later, and the 

 whole pack announced the still more exciting fact 

 " the game is up." The first move of the deer was 

 into a back-water, which he crossed, while the pack, 

 half swimming, half wading, came yelping at his 

 heels. He next dashed across an old field and made 

 for a thicket, which he entered ; it was a piece of 

 briery and tangled ground, which the dogs could 

 not traverse without infinite toil. By these two 

 moves, he gained a great start of the hounds : if he 

 kept on, we were thrown out, and our dogs lost for 

 the day if he doubled, and the nature of the ground 

 favored that supposition, there were two points 

 whereat he would be most likely to be intercepted. 

 I consulted the wind, and made my choice. I was 



