Htm ting the Wild Red Deer, 147 



I was soon deep in the mysteries and science of " har- 

 bouring," " tufting/' and " slotting/' and all the 

 ancient and recondite lore pertaining to " hartes and 

 hinds/' their habits and customs, especially the yearly 

 shedding and marvellously rapid growth of their 

 spreading horns ; and my blood warmed as I read the 

 vigorous and glowing descriptions which this practical 

 and still well-remembered sportsman gives, in his 

 work, of the beauty of the scenery, the nature and 

 habits of these noble animals, and the craft of the 

 hunter who chases the wild deer o'er the heather-clad 

 hills of Devon and Somerset. 



It was from this work that I first learnt that " the 

 surpassing glory and majesty of the stag lie mainly 

 in the heamed frontlet which adorns his brow." And 

 I forthwith determined to lose no time in visiting the 

 spot where the author had gained his experience ; so 

 that I also might be able to say, " It was a stag, a 

 stag of ten, bearing his branches sturdily," that I had 

 followed to the death, ^^ along the huge mile-long 

 waves of that vast heather sea " — to use the words of 

 Kingsley, in his remarks on this glorious pastime. 

 Nor was my excitement diminished when I further 

 read that a " warrantable deer " would often run for 

 four hours, or even more, " from moor to moor, from 

 wood to wood, and from stream to stream, along the 

 narrow strip of sand and rushes, speckled with stunted, 

 moss-bearded, heather-bedded hawthorns, between the 

 great grim lifeless mountain walls." 



Leaving Waterloo by the 10.45 morning train, 

 travelling via Salisbury down the lovely and luxuriant 

 vale which the South- Western Railway traverses, past 

 Gillingham and Sherborne, Teuiple Combe, Yeovil, 



10—2 



