170 Unexplored Spain 
the great yard-long horns with their branching tops seemed too 
big even for that massive body. 
On examination blood was found at once, and on both sides 
—that is, the bullet had passed right through. 
In the fog I had under-estimated the distance and the hit was 
low and too far back. With two trackers I followed the spoor 
while daylight served and through places that any words of mine 
must fail to describe; but from the first the head-keeper had fore- 
told the result : “Eso no se cobra—va léjos””—“that stag you will 
not recover; he goes far, but wherever he stops, he dies. See 
here! the dogs have run his spoor all along, but have not yet 
brought him to bay.” 
The indications left by the stag on brushwood and rock 
conveyed to the trackers’ practised eyes, as clear as words, the 
precise position of the wound; and, as foretold, those coveted 
antlers were lost, to perish uselessly. 
The pack of Mezquitillas was on this occasion reinforced by 
those of the Duke of Medinaceli and of the Marquis of Viana— 
bringing the total up to seventy hounds. Thus, in Spain, do the 
Grandees of a big land, when guests at a monteria, bring with 
them their huntsmen, kennelmen, and their packs of hounds—a 
system that breathes a comforting sense of space. 
Next day being hopelessly wet, I took opportunity of measur- 
ing three of the trophies which adorn the hall at Mezquitillas :— 
Points. Length. Widest Tips. | Cire. above Bez. |Circ.below Corona, 
A 15 381” 383" 64” 
B 14 38" 294" 6}" 74 
Cc 14 37 Be 3 34” 
Roebuck sie sy" ay” 
It will be observed that the stag shot a day or two before, and 
illustrated above (p. 167), tops the best of these by half an inch. 
The somewhat abnormal curve, however, partly explains this. 
We must record yet one more memorable day on this estate 
of Mezquitillas. This monteria (in January 1910) covered the 
region known as the Leoncillo. Upwards of twenty big stags 
