A DAY AT CHEE-HA. 175 



yards. It must be believed, however, that we were 

 quite too generous to divulge this unpleasant dis- 

 covery to our novice, in the first pride of his tri- 

 umph! 



And now we tried other grounds, which our pre- 

 cursors in the field had already beaten ; so that the 

 prime of the day was wasted before we made another 

 start. At last, in the afternoon, a splendid burst 

 from the whole pack made us aware that a second 

 deer had suddenly been roused. I was riding to 

 reach a pass (or stand as we term it), when I saw 

 a buck dashing along before the hounds at the top 

 of his speed ; the distance was seventy-five yards 

 but I reined in my horse and let slip at him. To 

 my surprise, he fell ; but before I could reach the 

 spot, from which I was separated by a thick under- 

 wood, he had shuffled oif and disappeared. The 

 hounds came roaring on, and showed me by their 

 course that he had made for a marsh that lay hard 

 by. For that we all pushed in hopes of anticipating 

 him. He was before us, we saw him plunge into 

 the canal, and mount the opposite bank, though evi- 

 dently in distress and crippled in one of his hind 

 legs. The dogs rush furiously on (the scent of 

 blood in their nostrils), plunge into the canal, sweep 

 over the bank, and soon pursuers and pursued are 

 shut out from sight, as they wind among the thick 



