34 THE SPORT OF KINGS 



But, after all, the sport is the thing — and what 

 a glorious sport it is ! An you be a hound man 

 — and I take it that most of my readers are or 

 wish to be — you will, on every day you go out, 

 see something which will appeal to you and live 

 long in your memory, whilst if you be of those to 

 whom a gallop is the be-all and end-all of hunting, 

 it will go hard with you if you have not some- 

 thing to talk about before the end of your fort- 

 night's leave. Indeed, what you see in that fort- 

 night will keep you going to November, and will 

 put you in condition as well. Jumping you will 

 not have, and should you chance, as I have done 

 more than once, to fall in with a stag that takes 

 you more miles than I care to estimate before he 

 stands at bay, and that keeps on before hounds for 

 the short period of four hours and twenty minutes, 

 you will, I fancy, however great a " glutton for 

 fencing " you may be, be thankful for small 

 mercies as I was, and be glad to put your jumping 

 exploits off " till the forty minutes on the grass," 

 which is the acme of your delight, comes off. 



One word, though, I must say to you in warn- 

 ing. If you should perchance be an adept in the 

 hunting of the fox or the timid hare, forget all the 

 woodcraft that those pursuits have taught you. 

 Hunting the wild red deer is a thing per se, and is 

 very different in many respects from the precon- 

 ceived notions one is apt to form of it. To 

 thoroughly enjoy stag-hunting on Exmoor it must 

 be judged by its own standard. It is unfair to 

 fox-hunting and it is unfair to stag-hunting to 

 compare the two. There is no common ground 

 of comparison, and for my own part I could take 

 two hours or three over Exmoor with a stag one 



