896 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 every 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 
