THE CHASE 237 



will hardly keep out of view and be killed very quickly ; 

 or he will make use of his opportunities to push up 

 hinds and young deer, 1 and will escape altogether. A 

 fat stag cannot gallop any better than a fat horse, and 

 nothing that anybody can do will enable him to live 

 long before hounds in racing condition. I have seen 

 excellent runs with deer of all ages on whom the 

 pack had been laid hardly out of view ; indeed, the 

 leading hounds went away actually in view on the 

 stag who gave the extraordinary run of September 22, 

 1883, from Culbone Stables to Castle Hill, and he 

 weighed fourteen stone dressed and clean. So many 

 cases occur when he cannot help giving the deer a 

 long start, that the master in my judgment should be 

 very cautious of rejecting the limited number of 

 chances which he gets of laying on the pack quickly. 

 An exception may and should be made provided the 

 weather is not too hot if a heavy stag breaks over a 

 good line of country with no chance of turning up 

 a fresh deer for a considerable distance ; but only 

 then if the stag be a heavy one. The hounds want 

 every advantage that can be given them with light 

 galloping deer or with hinds. 



1 The deer thus disturbed sometimes resent the intrusion. 

 I saw a stag thus interfered with turn and fight the hunted deer, 

 and they continued fighting till the hounds ran right up to 

 them. 



