120 FOEEST CREATURES. 



him in his arms mid carry him from the spot, setting 

 him down elsewhere, away from the former track. 



In order that the lord of the manor might be able 

 to follow his favourite pastime at a day's notice, and al- 

 ways with certainty of success, the foresters and their 

 attendants, as soon as the feast of St. John was come, 

 began daily to observe and follow the tracks of the deer 

 on the outskirts of the forests. A certain number, each 

 with his leam-hound, had each morning betimes to 

 make the circuit of certain thickets, and, examining the 

 ground, to learn how many and what stags had passed at 

 dawn. He was to avail himself of the assistance which 

 the signs above alluded to would afford him to determine 

 their size ; and to be particularly careful in discovering if 

 the game which had entered the covert on one side had 

 not passed through and left it on the other. If he tracked 

 a stag into the wood, and could find nowhere on its skirts 

 traces leading aiuay from it, then of course it was cer- 

 tain the stag was there still. Sometimes there would be 

 found traces leading towards, and also away from, the 

 covert. If three times the track of a stag was discovered 

 going from the wood, and only twice entering it, then 

 it was clear that the game was no longer there ; and on 

 the contrary if he were found to have entered the cop- 

 pice three times, and twice only there were signs of his 

 having gone away from it, then you might be sure the 

 stag was still in the shelter of its green shade. 



