50 Unexplored Spain 



beat. Then, assuming that the sportsman is a tyro, or subject to 

 " emotions " or buck-fever, there is danger of his forgetting for one 

 moment his precise permitted Une of fire ; in which case a perilous 

 shot must result. Once allowed to pass well outside, the stag 

 will usually continue on his course. 



In this, as in every form of sport, "soft chances" occasionally 

 occur. More often, the rifle will be directed at a galloping stag 

 crashing through bush that conceals him up to the withers ; or, 

 it may be, bounding over inequalities of broken ground or 

 brushwood, or among timber, at any distance up to 100 yards, 

 sometimes 150, while, should he have touched a taint in the 

 wind, his pace will be tremendous. 



Although to casual view a plain of level contours this country 

 is undulated to an extent that deceives a (careless eye — the 

 more accentuated by the monotone of cistus-scrub that appears 

 so uniform. In reality there traverse the plain glens and gently 

 graded hollows the less apt to be noticed, inasmuch as the scrub 

 in moister dell grows higher. 



Far through the marish green and still the watercourses sleep. 



Inspiring moments are those when — before the beat has 

 commenced — your eye catches on some far-away skyline the 

 broad antlers of a stag. This animal has perhaps been on foot 

 and alert, or maybe has taken the "wind" from the group of 

 beaters wending a way to their points far beyond. For three 

 seconds the antlers remain stationary, then vanish into some 

 intervening glen. A glance around shows your next neighbour 

 still busy completing his shelter — meritorious work if done in 

 time — and you have strong suspicion that the man beyond wall 

 just now be lighting a cigarette ! Such thoughts flash through 

 one's mind ; the dominant question that fills it is : " Where will 

 that great stag reappear ? " But few seconds are needed to 

 solve it. Perhaps he dashes, harmless, upon the careless, perhaps 

 upon the slow — lucky for him should either such event befall ! 

 On the other hand, those moments of glorious expectancy may 

 resolve in a crash of brushwood hard by, in a clinking of cloven 

 hoofs, and a noble hart with horns aback is bounding past your 

 own ready post. What proportion, we inwardly inquire, of 

 the stags that are killed by craftsmen has already, just before, 

 offered first chance to the careless or the slovenly ? 



