July 1, 1901.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
19 
river. A stag had been harboured there the day 
before, so we were certain of a find. Just above 
Figure of Eight Pool the lirst whimper was heard, 
and Beauty proclaimed a good tind, for immedi- 
ately afterwards the hounds went away with a 
line burst of music. 
[A TYPICAL "PATANA" OR OPEN DOWN OF 
SHORT, COARSE GRASS.— Picture. ] 
Crossing the river and still keeping along the 
valley, Ross, Wilson and I ran down the open, 
keeping in touch with the pack now tonguing 
merrily on our left and making for a narrow belt 
of patana into and almost through the jungle 
above us. Here two seizers, Dainty and Ven- 
geance, had been placed, as the statr was pretty 
sure to cross it on his way to Baker's Falls, where 
he would probably make his first stand, or, at any 
rate, cross the river there. 
We reached the belt of patana just in time to 
see the tail hound flash out on to the grass, 
and just below us in the hollow we could hear a 
" bay," Before we could get to it the stag broke 
bay and dashed into the forest, heading for the 
falls. We could just catch a glimpse of a nasty 
red gash on the off-shoulder of Dainty, the fast 
kangaroo hound, as she passed us, and following 
we heard the whole pack racing down a precip- 
itous slope to the top of the falls. 
Getting over the top of a knoll, in front of us 
we could hear a grand " bay " going on in the 
river some 200 feet below us. We were tumbling 
down the patana side to this when the " bay " 
ceased, and a big, heavy stag passed in full view 
Oil a bit of swampy ground on the other bank of 
the river. Hounds were close at his heels and, 
after a momentary check in a stream down whose 
rocky bed the stag had trotted knee-deep in watei , 
they dashed into the jungle on his line. A second 
later, amid a chorus of music, a fine stag trotted 
back into the open, apparently from the very 
middle of the pack. At the time it appeared that 
he must be the hunted stag, but subsequent events 
proved that this was not the case. Not a single 
hound came out on his line, and he was soon out 
of sight again in the jungle. 
In the meantime we could hear hounds getting 
away up the opposite slope now in thick forest ; 
but the noise of thewind and rushing water made 
it impossible to locate the sonnd. The "field" 
now' divided, Maitland and I following the direc- 
tion the pack had started in, whilst Ross and 
Wilson, thinking hounds had turned right-handed, 
made the best ot their way in that direction. 
After a sharp run ot about three quarters of a 
mile to Onion Patana, with nothing but instinct to 
guide me, I heard far away in a thickly-wooded 
gorge a distinct baying of hounds. So, getting 
into a game path by the edge of the stream, I 
ran along as fast as dense undergrowth and 
trailing creepers would let me, and after going 
about half a mile all sound ceased. 
THE FIGHT IN MID-STREAM COMMENCES. 
The stag had again broken '• bay " before I could 
come up with, him and, swinging round left-handed 
up a narrow gorge, he soon took the pack out of 
hearing. Coming back to Onion Patana and dis- 
turbing on my way a large troop of Wanderoo 
monkeys, whose bark or grunt is sometimes un- 
commonly like that of a wild boar, I met Maitland. 
He had heard no tongue, but had picked up two 
couple ot hounds that had been thrown out in the 
run. Around us the forest trees swayed in the wind, 
and occasionally the note of a distant bird or the 
wail of chafing branches would make us start with 
hope that we heard hounds running. The jungle 
was sodden with last night's rain, and by this 
time I was wet to the skin, so that standing 
still in the cold wind was not at all to my mind. 
" THE STAG WOULD REAR HIMSELF UP ON HIS 
HIND LEGS."— ENGRAVING.] 
We decided to return to the open plains by the 
way we had come and so get to the river as 
quickly as possible. The hounds we had recovered 
had evidently come from a high, forest-clad 
ridge rising some 600 ft. between us and the river. 
To get round a spur of this was now our object, 
and we had hardly entered the forest for this 
purpose when to our joy we heard the welcome 
sound ot a "bay" far away below us, and again 
in the direction of Baker's Falls. Making the best 
pace we could, we vvere soon out on the open 
patana again. 
Now the baying of hounds became more and 
more distinct, and forcing our way through the 
fringe of long grass and brambles, always to be 
found where jungle and patana meet, we gained 
a view of the river. Here a lovely and striking 
picture met our view — a long, broad reach of water 
extending to the very lip of the falls, and broken 
here and there by ridges of rock and rapids and 
intervening pools. 
In one of these, out in the mid-stream, stood a 
magnificent stag at bay. His head was lowered 
to below the level of his withers, and his mane 
bristled with rage. Taking advantage of every 
favourable feature in the surroundings, the 
hounds approached him, baying furiously from 
ridges of rock, from the bank, and more venture- 
some ones from the water itself, all in a grand 
chorus. The stag was in fighting trim and fighting 
mood, and at frequent intervals with a bound or 
two forward he would rear himself up on his hind- 
legs and with lightning stroke his hoofs would 
break the water with a splash above or within a 
few inches of an approaching hound. To avoid his 
terrific and sudden attacks the old and experienced 
hound would allow himself to sink beneath the sur- 
face, whilst the water would break the force of the 
blow. So far only the leading hounds were up, 
and no seizers. We knew it was useless to expect 
to keep him at bay for long, or kill him with only 
half-a dozen foxhounds, so the situation was be- 
coming critical. 
The master then blew his horn, giving his signal 
to the dog-boy to bring the seizers, and after many 
anxious minutes, during which the stag was fast 
getting his wind, first one and then another 
appeared in the distance galloping to the ' bay.' A 
few more hounds had come up on the line, and the 
bay became louder and louder as they joined in. 
Then down the steep slopes to the river came 
Venus and Strathspey, Rover and Dainty, with 
Vestal, Vengeance, and Victor, Slavin and Rufus 
— a truly formidable band, all racing to join the 
baying pack. In a moment the situation was 
changed. 
The hounds took heai;t of grace from the plucky 
seizers and leaped from rock to rock, whilst the 
latter splashed through shallow pools and, bursting 
through scrub and grass ou the bank, soon showed 
the stag he had more formidable opponents to deal 
with ;than a few baying foxhounds; In a moment 
the stag broke his ' bay ' at once, and with a few 
bounds was across the river and once more in the 
sheltering jungle. 
