CHAPTER VII. 



The Run of Half a Century — From Hawkridge to 

 Glenthorne — A Stag's Soliloquy — The Opening 

 Day of igoo — Brendon Hill and Elworthy. 



Thk Hawkridge 

 stags are gentlemen 

 and the Hawkridge 

 men can ride, but 

 never surely was 

 there bluer blooded 

 stag than that of 

 Thursday, Septem- 

 ber 14th, 1899, and 

 surely never did the 

 Hawkridge men have to ride so fast and far, 

 or with sucli judgment as on this, the greatest 

 run of recent vears. 



Why and wherefore there should suddenly 

 be a maddening scent ; why and wherefore a 

 real forest king should happen on this particular 

 day to leap from his lair, and lead a rejoicing 

 held over the cream of Exmoor, right against 

 a cool north wind, is idle to dispute ; but so it 

 was, and it will ever be that when a great run 

 is expected it does not come off, and conversely 



