230 STAG-HUNTING 



circumstances. His stag had gone up and down the 

 whole chain of woods between Hele Bridge and Chilly 

 Bridge, crossing and recrossing the Exe, but Miles 

 never failed to hit his line. At last the beast set his 

 head for the great covers in Haddon, and as slotting 

 him across the lane into Swine's Cleave was an easy 

 matter, and the scent was still fresh, we found him in 

 five minutes. But the harbourer had been on his 

 tracks for nearly as many hours, and had followed 

 them more than as many miles. 



The regular fee for the successful harbouring of a 

 stag is i/., and when the work is honestly done it is 

 well earned. In France, in small establishments, the 

 same man sometimes doubles the parts of harbourer 

 and huntsman. This must be very hard work indeed, 

 though the knowledge acquired in one capacity would 

 be of great service in the other ; for the harbourer's 

 acquaintance with the deer, their ways and habits, the 

 paths they take through the various covers, and 

 especially the places at which they cross the valleys, 

 enables him to be of great assistance to the huntsman 

 in the chase as well as during the preliminary tufting. 



' Tufting ' is the term applied to the process of 

 drawing for a deer, and ' tufters ' are the hounds used 

 for the purpose. It is rarely possible or desirable to 

 draw with the pack as in fox-hunting. Where there is 



