THE CHASE OF THE HIND. lyj 



shire for Exmoor twenty years ago, and Mr. Nicholas 

 Snow. The shepherd has told us that there is a herd 

 of about a dozen deer of all kinds lying in the "wet 

 ground" on Brendon Common (they always do lie on 

 the "wet ground" somewhere), so we shall want only 

 a few tufters to single out a good hind. Arthur shuts 

 up the pack in an outhouse adjoining the cottage, and 

 having exchanged a few last words with the shepherd, 

 opens the door with a "Stand back all of ye," and 

 looks at the sea of eager upturned faces. " Barrister," 

 he says, and the old hound who is waiting close by the 

 door elbows his way out in the matter-of-fact way of 

 an old hand. " R/stless, little bitch — back puppy — 

 Romulus," Arthur continues, and a pair of bright eyes 

 hurry out of the gloom, and "little" Restless slips 

 out, while "Romulus" hustles a noisy puppy aside 

 and bounds over the backs of the foremost. " Chal- 

 lenger" is then taken, and the door is shut amid the 

 howls of the disappointed. The whip gallops off into 

 the next county, a few hundred yards distant, the held 

 go across Badgworthy Water and wait to look out for 

 any deer that may come that way, and the master with 

 his companion and the huntsman move off in the oppo- 

 site direction towards the wet ground. Ten minutes 

 or so bring us in sight of the deer lying down com- 



