HARBOURING AND TUFTING. J4.3 



Stationed. "Nothing has come up," he observes to 

 the huntsman as they canter on the path together. 

 *' Best let 'em go on and see what it is," is the brief 

 and not unexpected answer. But suddenly the tufters 

 are heard turning towards them, and the huntsman, 

 with his eye on the ground stops like a shot 

 and calls the hounds off. Why? He has seen a 

 slot which tells him we are hunting the heel of another 

 and younger stag that came down into the cover some 

 time this morning. Again we draw on where we first 

 began, and at last we hear a single hound speak as if 

 baying, and the rushing of the rest of the tufters as 

 they hurry to the spot ; then a chorus and a crash, and 

 for a moment we see a great brown body spring 

 through the air, catch a glimpse of a heavily antlered 

 head well laid back, and hear the rattle of the bushes 

 as he bursts through them. The right animal at last ; 

 he is up, and the tufters are running him merrily. But 

 is he away? Not yet. The day is hot and our friend 

 is fat ; moreover, he is the biggest and finest stag in 

 the covers. Why should he, the master of the herd, 

 make sport for us ? That is the business of the 

 young ones, and he means to find one to do it; 

 and accordingly he proceeds to beat the cover for a 

 substitute. 



