THE CHASE OF THE STAG. 169 



gale, leaving a rare scent behind them. So also hounds 

 will run desperately hard in three inches of snow, 

 when crossing a patch of deep ground on a horse 

 becomes a very ticklish matter. It needs a strong 

 man to stand the severe weather and hard work during 

 the hind-hunting season, but Arthur Heal has kept on 

 at it for thirty years as whip and huntsman, and will 

 still ride away from any one on the moor. In the old 

 days the name of Joe Faulkner was celebrated in the 

 country as the best huntsman ever known with the 

 staghounds ; but though poor Joe, if he could rise from 

 his grave, would probably dispute the point (for he was 

 a bibulous little man with the temper of a fiend), men 

 are now inclined to give the palm to Arthur. It is true 

 that Joe never had so much practice as Arthur, but at 

 the same time he had fewer difficulties from fresh deer 

 to cope with. Experience, knowledge of the country 

 and the deer, are the reasons generally assigned to 

 account for Arthur's superiority, but these give place 

 to his quickness, and above all to his patience. Those 

 who wish to see him and the staghounds at their best 

 should go out hind-hunting, for in spite of all draw- 

 backs of weather and fresh deer, hind-hunting is at 

 present the finest sport on Exmoor. 



