WESTWARD HO ! 39 



who appreciates the beauties of that fine art. In the 

 meantime we were informed that the stag which 

 had been harboured at Dunkery had gone away, 

 and all possible haste was made to get to the place. 

 " Forty minutes gone," was the announcement 

 when the Master appeared with the pack. Such 

 a case would have been hopeless had a fox been 

 before us, and that I had my misgivings I must 

 own. To see the way hounds worked over the moor 

 was charming, and this in spite of the fact that a 

 large field unduly pressed on them. They hunted 

 along, not at any great pace it is true, but still 

 keeping well to their work, to Horner Hill and 

 Cloutsham, and finally they had to go home with- 

 out blood. 



It was a moderate day's sport, yet a most 

 enjoyable one withal. If the dash of foxhounds 

 breaking covert with a fox was wanting, as of 

 necessity it was, to make up for it there was the 

 wonderful steadiness of the tufters, who were easily 

 turned from the hinds, and that without any noise 

 of rating and whip cracking. The handiness of 

 the tufters impressed me much, and I was equally 

 charmed with the admirable manner in which the 

 hounds worked the stag across from Dunkery to 

 Horner. All that was wanting to make a good 

 run was a little better scent and a better start. 

 The cunning of the stag was exemplified in a 

 remarkable manner, and that alone was worth 

 going a long way to see. The keeper was emphatic 

 in his assertions that the stag was in a certain corner 

 of the covert. Yet carefully as Anthony drew 

 round the thicket, no tufter could own that he was 

 there, and though the keeper went down to dis- 

 lodge him, he never budged an inch. Then for 



