20i COVERT-SIDE SKETCHES. 



every yard of bank and overhanging leaf, or actually giving 

 tongue in the water if the stag is above them. To a man really 

 fond of the work of hounds, nothing can be more enjoyable 

 than this part of the chase, though those who only go out to 

 ride may deem it slow. The way in which I have seen a single 

 hound work a stream is something wonderful. Xow, the chase 

 may be over or not ; sometimes the deer soils merely to refresh 

 himself, and goes on again, so that it is best to be on the alert 

 for a second start. I have known a very smart gallop indeed 

 after a deer had been running up and down the Baile for a 

 long time, eventually killing him some distance away in the 

 Exe. By the way, this reminds me of the advice given me by 

 an old stag-hunter, which is well worth remembering, viz., 

 * iS'ever go down into the bottoms unless the stag is sinking.' 

 It is a maxim that will save your horse considerably. Another, 

 taken from the * Chase of the Wild Eed Deer,' is also well 

 worth repeating, which is, that when you see a deer try to 

 ascend a hill perpendicularly, he is ' embost,' 'run up,' or 

 beaten, and is sure to return to water again. 



" Very different from the death of the fox is that of the stag. 

 Perhaps for half an hour the pack have been viewing him in 

 the river ; at one time ' set up,' at another flying from pool to 

 pool for shelter, and yet he is not beaten enough for the men to 

 go in and cut his throat ; for you must know that a stag at bay 

 is a dangerous customer both to hounds and men. 



" Whyte Melville says, — 



While louder and deeper the challenge resounds, 

 Till it rings through the coombe in a chorus of hounds. 

 And the music of death with its echo surrounds 

 The King of the West. 



" And of all the hound music that ever greeted your ears, 

 there is nothing to equal the chiding of the pack when their 

 stag is set up ; he must be cold-souled indeed whose blood 

 does not boil when he hears it. Then, if it is succeeded by 



