212 THE NEW FOREST 



their hunted deer and take it up again, is a 

 most interesting lesson on the intelligence and 

 sagacity of hounds. 



Except when I actually hunted the hounds 

 myself, I did not keep a diary, and memory is 

 a treacherous guide to enable one to recall the 

 many first-class runs I have seen, or failed to 

 see in spite of my best endeavours. 



I recollect one such hunt with young stag, 

 that I viewed away myself from the Franchise 

 Wood on the northern verge of the Forest, in 

 the county of Wilts. 



The hounds ran hard, fast and straight across 

 the whole Forest, passed over its southern bound- 

 ary, and went on towards the shores of the 

 Solent his point no doubt but he was bayed 

 and killed near Milton, a mile short of the sea. 



No one really saw all of this run, and no one 

 horse could have got through it, at the pace 

 hounds went, the point in a direct line being 

 fourteen miles and the time less than an hour 

 and a half. Mr. Thursby, Mr. Compton, and my- 

 self were well with them for the first seven miles, 

 but were all misled by a false holloa and got 

 behind hounds. Mr. Thursby, riding a racehorse, 

 made a lucky turn, and got up to them near 

 Brockenhurst, thus gaining much on us. He 

 followed his hounds right down to Milton, till 



