84 THE NEW FOREST 



The two years in due course rolled by, and with 

 them came an end to the money allotted for the 

 work of destruction. The strangers who had 

 been employed to assist in taking the deer went 

 back to their own places. The staff of keepers 

 was considerably reduced, and the bloodhounds 

 they formerly kept to track or to recover a 

 wounded deer were got rid of. All that could 

 be reasonably expected to be done in order to 

 carry out the provisions of the Act had been 

 complied with, and the little remnant of deer were 

 left at rest. Gradually they crept back into the 

 Forest, but no one seemed to think there was 

 any obligation to continue year by year the de- 

 struction of the deer after the prescribed two 

 years had expired. A certain amount of hunt- 

 ing was permitted, which for a long time pre- 

 vented the deer from increasing too fast. 



Such, then, was the condition of affairs when 

 I came to the Forest. There was a small stock 

 of deer scattered pretty well over the Forest 

 quite enough, and more than enough, to provide 

 sport for a pack of hounds. My predecessor had 

 already begun to kill down a few, and I soon 

 found that the deer had a tendency to increase 

 very rapidly, and that I must bestir myself if 

 they were to be kept from overwhelming me. 

 The first things I had to provide myself with 



