142 STAGHUNTING WITH THE 



steep side overlooking Hoar Oak Water ; per- 

 haps the veteran may have stopped in that 

 lonely stream ; but no, there's nothing there. 

 Now he and Arthur trot slowly back towards 

 Blackpits in disconsolate frame, all the skill and 

 deer-craft of past and present allied, but quite 

 discomfited. Where can the phantom stag have 

 got to ? 



There are lines all over the place ; any one 

 of them mav be his. How can they tell now 

 which to follow ? No friendly halloa to guide 

 them in this dreary solitude, no chance to detect 

 the fugitive's slot in this wide expanse of 

 swampv grass. No human being nearer than 

 Hoccombe Hill, or Hoar Oak Cottage ; in the 

 distance a few moor ponies grazing, and on 

 everv hill some sheep. But stop ! why are those 

 sheep huddled so there in Blackpits beside the 

 Farlev Water ? What do they see that Anthony 

 cannot ? The wind is from him to them ; if it 

 be deer, thev will be off in another moment. 

 Tally ho ! there they go 1 the two-year-old 

 staglings and a hind, and by all that's lucky, 

 there is the black stag with them still. Now 

 Bluster and Dalesman, have at 'em, my boys I 

 But not a bit ; there seems to be some magic 

 bv reason of which hounds cannot hunt this 

 deer. There are the deer still going, and there's 

 ]\Ir. Charles Glass. Now will they take it up 

 or no ? Yes, they are off at last, and at what a 



