292 STAGHUNTING WITH THE 



answers roar amongst the echoing tree stems, 

 the great horns rattle and clash as the monarchs 

 meet, and so the fight goes on as it has ever 

 gone for thousands of years, in these self same 

 combes, among the same oak woods, and on 

 such wild autumnal nights. When day dawns, 

 cold and shivering, the victor stag may be 

 heard hoarse and weary but belling still, while 

 his beaten rival has slunk away to some secure 

 retreat, where he can nurse his wounds and his 

 pride, until such time as he can find a smaller 

 and feebler stag, and take his revenge and be- 

 come himself a conqueror. 



Stag venison carries more fat than that of 

 hind or male deer, but is not so delicate, and 

 yet at its prime in September forms the best 

 roast of all three, especially when well hunted 

 and brought to the board within three or four 

 nights of its capture. After that the hunted 

 flavour goes oft", and it rather loses than gains 

 even by the most careful keeping. 



At the annual venison feast, at which the 

 master entertains a goodly gathering of deer 

 preserving farmers from each side of the 

 country at Dulverton and Porlock, a smoking 

 haunch is laid which has on some recent date 

 been taken from a well run stag, and the 

 giant joint resists sturdily the attack of from 

 seventy to eighty healthy appetites. It has 

 occasionally happened that when all the 



