The hooke of Hunting 117 



from the bankes. For they flial haue better fent .xx. or .xxx. paces 

 off, than they fliould haue at the verie fide or banke of the ryuer. 

 And the reafon is, that when the Hart commeth out of the water 

 he is al wet and moyled with water, which poureth downe his 

 legs in fuch abundance, that it drownes the Slot or view. But 

 commonly heroufeth and fliakeththe water off him at his comming 

 out therof, fo that by that time he haue gone .xx. or .xxx. paces, the 

 Slot is better, and the hounds fliall fent him much better. Ne- 

 uerthelefTe the huntfmen them felues fliould kepe alwayes neare 

 to the riuer : for fomtimes the Hart will lye vnder the water all 

 but his very nofe, as I haue before rehearfed : Or may percafe lye 

 in fome bed of bulruflies, or in fome tuft of fallowes, fo that they 

 might leaue him behind them : and then aflbne as they were paft, 

 he might goe counter backe againe the fame way that he came. 

 For commonly a Harte hath that craftie poUicie to fuffer the 

 hounds to ouerflioot him, and the huntfmen to pafle by him. And 

 aflone as they be past,hewill ftealeback and go counter right back- 

 wards in y« fame track or path y* he came. This hapneth not 

 often, vnlefle the riuer be full of fallows or fuch buflies, and neare 

 vnto fome foreft. But let fome one of y® Huntefmen haue alwayes 

 an eye to the Riuer, and let the reft beate with theyr houndes .xx. 

 paces from the bankes, and fo let them keepe on altogether vntill 

 they finde where he brake water : and if they finde any blocke or 

 beame, or fuch thing that lieth croile ouerthwarte the ftreame, let 

 them looke there whether he haue broken water or not, for vnlefle 

 it be at fuch a place, or at fuche a let, a Harte will keepe the wa- 

 ter long, efpecially when he breaketh from the houndes ouer a 

 champaigne countrie : for at fuch times they will holde the wa- 

 ter as long as they can, and alfo at fuch times they truft no lon- 

 ger neyther in their thickets, nor in their fwiftnefle, but are con- 

 ftrayned to feeke the foyle as their laffc refuge. And here I 

 thinke it not amifle to aduertife you, that an Harte dreadeth the 

 North erne windes, and the Southerne windes much more than 

 he doth the Eafterly or Wefterly windes, in fuch forte that if at 

 his breakyng out of a couert, when he feeketh to breake from the 

 houndes endwaies ouer the champaigne, he feele either a North- 



winde 



