Staghounds 77 



hunting, and the terrible sufferings under- 

 gone by the quarry in his fear of the hounds, 

 they are either speaking in guileless igno- 

 rance, or else doing their best to belittle 

 the fame of the late Ananias. I cannot call 

 to mind a single instance of the ordinary 

 paddock-fed deer showing any fear of hounds ; 

 many an one calmly starts grazing when 

 first enlarged, and has to be actually driven 

 away. Even so, they usually start at a very 

 casual trot : it is well authenticated that in 

 a certain hunt the deer used to jog out to 

 the meet beside the huntsman's horse, and 

 in the middle of the pack ; run his line, and 

 then return to his paddock in the same way. 

 And if the "cruelty" criers, who are con- 

 stantly running a tilt against the Eoyal pack, 

 would only come out and ride to the finish 

 with staghounds, then get ofi* their horses 

 and tackle the deer, probably some of their 

 sympathy would be reserved for themselves 

 instead of "slopping over" on the "victim." 

 A stag is often a nasty customer to collar, 

 and 1 have seen hounds, and men, too, "for- 



