THE CHASE. 885 
a horse would revolt at the thought of stealing the hunter’s 
prize. 
These same frontiersmen in time became country gentlemen 
with improved farms and plantations. In the level or even hilly 
country the deer mostly disappeared before the march of civil- 
ization, while in the mountainous regions they remained and still 
remain in considerable numbers. The whilom hunters for meat 
became sportsmen for the excitement of the chase, or where the 
old stock have passed away, the new generation allowed the long, 
faithful rifle which had done sanguinary service in the early set- 
tlement of the country, to repose on the rack, and pursued the 
deer more for the sport than the saddle ; more for the prize than 
the real profit. The silent and sagacious deer dog was no longer 
prized but gave place to the slow, and boisterous, and I may add 
stupid, hound. The sublime stillness of silent nature in the 
solitude of the dark forest is broken by the noisy bay of great 
packs of hounds, and the timid deer goes rushing through the 
woods frightened out of his native gracefulness. ° 
It is where the country is divided into ranges of wood-clad 
mountains, or high hills divided by valleys, down which rivers or 
ereeks run, or in which lakelets are situated, that the proper 
theatre is found for running the deer with hounds. For this pur- 
pose packs of greater or less numbers are kept as in different 
countries of Europe. In such localities different runways are 
adopted by the deer, where they pass the watercourses in going 
from one élevation to another, or where they approach the little 
lake for bathing. Several sportsmen engage in the hunt. Early 
in a still, frosty morning they repair to the ground, generally on 
horseback, when one, and sometimes two, are stationed at each 
of the well-known runways, when their horses are concealed and 
the hunters secretly station themselves so as to command the 
crossing place and its approach. The hounds, in leash, are sent 
on to the mountains, and at a likely place they are slipped, and 
the hunt commences. So soon as the deer is started, the hounds 
give tongue. This is the signal anxiously listened for by the 
watchers at the several runways. Far away in the distant moun- 
tain, at first like a faint murmur, the sound is heard, uncertain 
whether it is the baying of the dogs or the whisper of an insect. 
The note soon becomes more distinct, and it is certain that the 
game is afoot. Anxiety now increases to determine who occu- 
pies the favored location. All along the line the attention of 
each watcher is strained to the utmost tension, to’ detect by the 
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