IN THE FAR WEST. 289 



docs not dash boldly upwards, however, but swings around 

 the hill, generally moving from right to left, and doubling 

 when necessary, and if hard pressed it makes for some con- 

 venient river or lake. Then it is that the hunters have an 

 opportunity of firing at it, and if they are at all expert with 

 the shot-gun they may tumble it over with a dozen buckshot 

 as it flees past them, or they may cause it to halt by a whistle, 

 and kill it while it is trying to analyze the import of the 

 strange sound. If it reaches open ground some persons pursue 

 it on horseback, and if their steeds have any speed worth men- 

 tioning they are sure to get within shooting range of it, for a 

 deer is by no means the ideal of swiftness which it is often 

 assumed to be. Even when fresh, a good horse will push it 

 hard on fair running ground; but in a rugged country it has 

 all the advantages in its favour, as it seems to run as well on 

 one kind as on the other. 



When the quarry is killed, a joyous shout or a blast on the 

 mellow horn announces the event, and dogs and men assemble 

 to gaze on the trophy. The successful Nimrod is congratu- 

 lated ; a dose of something stronger than tea is generally 

 partaken of in honour of the event ; and the pack is sent out 

 to make another cast, when the same hurrying and scurrying 

 to and fro is indulged in until the quarry is either slain or 

 escapes to the water. If it takes to a river, it floats down 

 with the current for a short distance, and scrambles out on the 

 opposite bank ; but if it has been driven hard it frequently 

 stays in the water under the shelter of friendly branches, even 

 if the hounds are giving tongue within a few feet of it. Its 

 head is all that is visible on such occasions, so he who would 

 detect its hiding-place must carefully scan the water. If the 

 wind is blowing from its direction, experienced hounds will 

 follow it in the river almost as well as the)- would on land, 

 and they frequently kill it there. On such occasions the stags 

 fight bravely for their lives, and often kill some of their 

 assailants and escape, but when they are overpowered by 

 numbers they soon become exhausted, and are killed, or 

 dragged helplessly ashore by the hunters, when they are 

 finished at once. 



