DRUID 259 



made a convulsive bound or two towards us, and Holloway shot 

 him through the brain. 



On finding that I had been entrusted with the killing of 

 some of the royal deer, my first object was to get a good blood- 

 hound. Now we often see things with long ears, and of the 

 right colour, but which are no more real bloodhounds than a 

 turnspit is a foxliound ; but I was very fortunate in obtaining 

 from Mr. Mitchel, the chief friend of the animals in the Regent's 

 Pai'k Gardens — for he is so in every sense of the word — a 

 bloodhound of about twelve months old, as perfect when he 

 came to me, in all the attributes of that race, to look at, as I 

 ever beheld. His wrinkled front, narrow forehead, rather sunken 

 eyes, and long, fine, sweeping ears, that never rose — or cocked, 

 as the saying is — and which did, indeed, " bathe in dew " when 

 he stooped his head, gave every sign of a true ancestry. In 

 addition to these marks and his long hanging lips, in shape he 

 was perfect. Well rounded in the ribs, and deep in the brisket, 

 his legs and feet were perfection itself; with a loin to heave him 

 along, and a stern to it that, when feathering on a deer, lashed 

 his sides like the tail of a lion in a rage. His colour' of the 

 richest black-tan. It was not long before I clipped the usual 

 capital B on his left side, and began to make him handy. No 

 easy job at first; and I soon found that a primary settlement 

 must be made as to who was to be master — he or I. The first 

 bone of contention was his feeding -trough, as, until he had 

 polished it clean, he was in no way inclined to let me have it 

 back again. To get the trough, and be master, was, in this case, 

 difficult, because, in the onset, I did not desire to hurt him ; and 

 as he had a knack, when in a quarrel of this sort, to fly right at 

 one's throat, it was difficult to keep him out without it. I took 

 the trough, however", with a short truncheon in my hand, as well 

 as a little switch, with as much a manner of careless authority 

 as possible ; and the instant it moved, he made a sort of spring, 

 and then stood across it, as one dog will do to another when, 

 with stiff" legs, bristles up, and teeth shown, he threatens battle. 

 " Druid ! " I cried, in a tone of astonishment, " what now .'' " and 



