396 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



covert. The elevated and dispersed positions of the horsemen 

 enable them to always keep the chase in sight, and so the well 

 trained hound is kept upon his course without loss, though the 

 game may frequently be lost to view. It is a glorious sight 

 when the horsemen and the hounds draw near the game, when 

 evasion or concealment is no longer possible, and it becomes a 

 mere question of muscle and endurance ; when the shouts of the 

 riders stimulate both the horses and the hounds, and madden the 

 frightened deer to the last possible effort of every sinew. The pack 

 is strung out in a long and scattered line and so are the horse- 

 men, each striving to the utmost to gain on the quarry, to keep 

 the lead or to make up the lost distance. To be the foremost in 

 such a chase, to keep even with the leading hound, and see that 

 each stride lessens the intervening space between the pursuers 

 and the pursued, is the culmination of excitement only known to 

 the ardent sportsman. 



At each stride the leading hound draws nearer to the deer 

 that is straining everj' muscle to maintain his distance, his wild 

 eye protruding from its socket, his mouth wide open, and his 

 tail occasionally lashed between his legs, as evidence that he is 

 pressed beyond his strength, and is already distressed with his 

 great efforts. At length as he sees his pursuers are gaining upon 

 him, and the friendly thicket is yet far distant, fear comes and 

 increases the embarrassment of fatigue, and he begins to jump 

 wildly, which retards his flight. The horseman, meantime, urges 

 his steed to the utmost to keep up with the hound, which, how- 

 ever, he fails to do ; but, as he sees the race is soon to terminate, 

 he strives to keep as near as possible. Now the leader of the 

 pack is up with the game. He seizes him a little inside the thigh 

 just as the hind feet leave the ground, and by a side jerk throws 

 him heavily to the ground, letting go as the quarry falls. If an 

 experienced dog, and sure of speedy support, he will wait till the 

 deer gets up and resumes his flight, when he will again throw 

 him in the same way, and so repeatedly till others of the pack 

 come up, when all will close in upon the exhausted animal and 

 usually make short work of it. But great vitality remains in an 

 old buck. If an inexperienced dog exposes himself to the blow 

 of a wounded buck he may be knocked ten feet away by either 

 foot, or he may be impaled by a single dash of the sharp antlers. 

 One severe lesson, aided by the example of the older dogs, 

 is generally enough to make the beginner cautious even in the 

 midst of the excitement. One or two dogs at the throat laying 



