230 STAG-HUNTING ON EXMOOR 



bushes and coasted along the side, while we rode 

 along the heather on the ridge, in the vain hope 

 that we could keep him out of the Porlock Coverts. 

 Just by Whitestones he turned up, and, undismayed 

 by the shouting and smacking of whips, trotted up 

 to our horses. Eiding at him was no good ; a 

 sudden stop with lowered antlers — all his rights 

 and three on top both sides — a bound to one side 

 or another, and he is behind you, and perfectly 

 ready to encounter the next one ; horses, too, will 

 not go near a stag if they can help it. 



Although we did all we knew to turn him, I do 

 not think we forced him fifty yards from the course 

 he would have taken had he been left to himself. 

 Andrew Miles always declared that there was only 

 one way to turn a stag, and it would have required 

 an exceedingly well-drilled field, proof against the 

 temptation to look at the stag, to carry out his 

 plan. " Get right in front of the stag," Miles 

 would say, " and ride as hard as you can go for 

 the point to which he is making ; he will dodge 

 round you if you ride at him, but he will not 

 deliberately follow you." 



But now our stag, with an air of insulted majesty, 

 turns his back upon us and sets out for his long 

 last journey. He must rouse himself, for the soul- 

 stirring notes of the hounds float towards us. The 



