148 STAG-HUNTING ON EXMOOR. 



themselves by one gigantic bound far into some almost 

 impenetrable thicket, and there lie where hounds can 

 never wind them and hardly reach them. Further, a 

 stag will not always move before a single hound, but 

 will stand and bay him till other hounds come up and 

 force him out. But the reader has been kept too long 

 tufting; let him, therefore, imagine the stag fairly 

 forced away, topping the cover fence as only a deer 

 can, standing with open mouth and chin aloft for a 

 moment on the top, and then after a glance at his 

 pursuers setting his head straight for his point, and 

 disappearing with that lurching, easy canter which has 

 tempted so many foolish men to think they can catch 

 him themselves. The tufters are stopped, the hunts- 

 man gallops back for the pack, a moment's feathering, 

 a whimper, and away they go. 



