262 STAG-HUNTING 



deer on foot, but as that number would be impossible, 

 successive masters have contented themselves with 

 one. And though among the sporting farmers there are 

 not a few who understand the work thoroughly, and are 

 always ready to help if they are out, the whip has 

 plenty to do ; a quick man with a good eye is indis- 

 pensable ; the more so as outside assistance cannot 

 be depended on in hind-hunting, and there are no 

 piqueurs in charge of spare hounds, as in France, who 

 can go on with the huntsman if the whip be on the 

 wrong side of a valley, or otherwise thrown out. At 

 one or two fixtures the pack is sometimes divided, 

 part being kennelled at one place and part at another, 

 so that one lot may be within reach wherever the deer 

 breaks, but we have never adopted the French system 

 of relais volants^ though I saw our present hunts- 

 man with such a team once. It was when he had 

 just been taken from the stables to fill the whip's 

 place in the middle of the season. He did not know 

 the hounds, and the hounds did not know him, but 

 he was full of zeal, and he proved himself a man of 

 resource. 



We were hind-hunting ; many deer were on foot, 

 hounds had divided a good deal and were all over 

 the place, when Anthony was seen coming down the 

 road toward Cloutsham surrounded by a small pack. 



