THE CHASE 245 



poking the deer just caught the ebb tide on one side, 

 and the flowing tide on the other. There is no 

 doubt that red deer have been seen occasionally in 

 Glamorganshire, and it is not easy to account for 

 their presence there in any other way, unless they 

 had been dropped overboard by some coasting craft 

 which had made a capture on the way up Channel, 

 and feared trouble if they took the animal into port. 

 There is a case on record of a hind picked up by 

 a passing collier being claimed at the port of entry 

 by the Receiver of Wrecks, who very handsomely re- 

 turned her to Mr. Bisset. 



But the incidents of the chase are many and 

 various. The Comte de Canteleu's saying that stags 

 nearly always make for the abodes of men when they 

 are sinking has already been quoted. I should not 

 go as far as this, but wild deer in their extremity do 

 get into as curious places as carted ones, and have 

 been taken before now in greenhouses, in bar par- 

 lours, in bedrooms, and on the roofs of houses ; one 

 even went through Sir Thomas Acland's house at 

 Holnicote, entering by an open door, and going out 

 through a closed window. 



The cunning of a red deer is only equalled by 

 its endurance, and its endurance by its cunning. They 

 will often go a mile and more in the water without 



