THE CHASE OF THE STAG. 153 



taking charge of a bank, while some, if the water be 

 not too deep, will splash along the middle, winding 

 every stone and blade and twig. They will rear up 

 to try overhanging branches, and swim out to any 

 rock or stone which the deer may have touched in his 

 passage ; as wise as Christians and far more indus- 

 trious. There are few prettier sights than a check at 

 the water to one who is fond of hounds and likes to 

 see them work. 



Sometimes a deer will go up stream, jump out on 

 the bank, follow it a little way upwards, and then once 

 more jump in and go down. This is highly discon- 

 certing, and has snatched more than one from the 

 jaws of death. Sometimes deer will sink themselves 

 in a pool under the bank, throwing their heads back 

 with little but their muzzle above water, and in such 

 cases hounds will pass right over them without winding 

 them. The writer remembers seeing a hind do this, 

 and the embarrassment of the hounds, sure she was 

 close by (within a yard of some of them), and yet 

 unable to make out where, was very comical to witness. 

 They kept passing her and coming back again ; then 

 again repassing, stopping, and applying themselves 

 diligently to the bank, till at last one caught a view, 

 and with a triumphant note plunged into the swollen 



