THE CHASE OF THE STAG. 159 



on the ground like a bullock, as some artists are fond 

 of representing him. His mouth, open while he was 

 running, is shut when he is beat. A splendid sight he 

 is in the clear brown water of the moorland streams, 

 with a background of oak coppice or heather to set off 

 his noble form and bearing, and the ring of baying 

 hounds round him. He chooses, if he can, a spot where 

 he can stand and the hounds must swim, and then woe 

 betide the hound that comes within reach. Quick as 

 lightning he rears up and plunges down, and if he 

 misses him by an inch that hound may thank his stars, 

 for the wound of a stag's horn is a very dangerous one. 

 If a stag can get his back against a rock or other place 

 inaccessible to hounds he can set any number at de- 

 fiance ; but if they can get all round him the question 

 is simply how long his strength may last. If he should 

 get into deep water, where he must swim, the hounds 

 will get on his back and drown him ; death in this case 

 is to all appearance almost instantaneous, owing to the 

 exhaustion of the deer. It need hardly be said that 

 every effort is made to shorten the final scene as far as 

 possible, and keep the hounds clear of the deer, both 

 for his sake and their own. Occasionally a stag is 

 lassoed, and so taken, but as a rule some one or two 

 men go up to him in the water when his attention is 



