THE BUCKS OF AVHITLEY RIDGE 2.55 



as that wood was, and wary as the deer had become, it was in 

 vain to thiniv of getting at them thus : so we conchided to wait 

 till their feeding-time in the evening. We were leaning on the 

 rails of the buck-pen, rails put up to keep cattle from the deer 

 when fed with hay, — rather a useless precaution in the neglected 

 state of the " venerie," and considering the deer never got any, 

 — and were thinking over the haunts we had visited, and if it 

 were possible that they had escaped us. We were both leaning 

 over the rail and looking on the ground, when a hollow sound of 

 deer's feet struck my ear, and, turning my eyes to the right, I 

 had but just time to reach out my hand to the keeper's shoulder 

 to give him a pull, and we both sank flat on our faces together. 

 There they were — three goodly bucks, the stranger, with two of 

 the browse deer, trotting and capering at play, and coming right 

 upon us. There was not even so much as a blade of long grass 

 nor a thistle to hide us ; so all we had to do was to lie flat, hide 

 our faces and hands, and look as much like heaps of dirt or dead 

 fern as possible. I ventured to raise my brow, my chin still on 

 mother earth, out of curiosity, to see what the deer would do. 

 The wind being favourable, they did not scent us, and I saw them 

 repeatedly look over us for men in upright positions. Luckily 

 they halted at about fifty yards' distance, and Hall looked me, 

 for he dared not speak to knowledge of the stranger. They were 

 all good bucks, perhaps one of the browse bucks was the fattest, 

 but the stranger had the largest frame, and, as Hall prayed me 

 to kill him, I resolved to accomplish it if possible. It was an 

 anxious moment : he turned his well-rounded side at fifty yards 

 for a beautiful body-shot ; but I no more dared to lift the rifle 

 in that exposed situation, than have offered him the bough of a 

 tree, and expected him to take it, and await his death. To lie 

 still and wait a fitting opportunity was all that I could do. A 

 moment convinced us they were not yet out on their feed, and 

 Hall whispered, " All right, sir : they are going to their beds 

 among the rushes." He knew of the lairs they had previously 

 used in some cool rushes beneath some old oak trees; and a 

 moment after they began to walk about here and there with 



