30 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN 



not very well prevent; and these two facts, coupled with a 

 remarkably favourable time for the condition of the deer, were 

 indirectly the cause of my defeat. I had resolved on tiring the 

 whole herd of deer by constant motion, and not singling one out 

 too soon. This was prevented by a good-natured but mistaken 

 desire of Mr. Drax's to assist me, it not being contravened in the 

 wording of the match ; and he therefore, with two servants, as he 

 thought, aided me in singling out a buck, and of course sent me 

 out a fresh one instead of the weary and aged one I contemplated. 

 The second contretemps was that, having fixed on the month of 

 November, directly after the rut, I expected to find the deer in 

 the low condition in which for years I had seen them, and taken 

 them, in Charborough Park, for fatting. Instead of this, either 

 among the keepers or elsewhere, the deer had been better kept, 

 I take it, for the purpose of a better show to the public ; and 

 that, coupled with a mild dry season, put all the deer before me 

 in full and altogether unwonted vigour. 



The first deer was singled out, fresh and hearty, and I was 

 called on to " lay on the dog." I said to myself that the buck 

 should not have left the herd for the next two hours, nor such 

 a buck as he was, if I had been alone, and yet I would have had 

 one out thoroughly within the terms of the match ; however, 

 there stood the buck, and I gave the signal for the course. Had 

 it all depended on me nothing should have left the herd but the 

 old master bucks of eight and nine years old, who had been used 

 up in their revels. Away went dog and deer at the best pace, 

 clean out of sight of the spectators. They left the open and 

 beautifully fair undulations of the plain, and the dog never got 

 up to the buck till he reached the iron or invisible fence on one 

 side of the park, and then when he did so, it was among a clump 

 of newly planted trees, with frames of wood or " pouses " round 

 them, to protect them from the deer ; the worst possible place 

 for me, because, when the time came to iiish in and aid the dog, 

 my horse, tied to my wrist with a leathern thong of about seven 

 or eight feet in length, could not, so far as my hand was con- 

 cerned, be let go, or we should have gone contrasides of one of 



