White Sulphur papers; or, Life at the springs of Western Virginia

56 WHITE SULPHUR PAPERS.
We went forth in gallant style,
and only wanted
the hawkers, to have imagined ourselves in the
reign of Queen Elizabeth on a Holy-rood day.
After driving for a few miles, we came to the
appointed place on a turn off from the road, on a
grassy knoll in the shade, which was to be our
stand, and where we were left to shoot the deer if
we pleased, with canes and parasols, whenever he
might come by.
Occasionally we would hear the baying note of a
single hound, which would die away in the breeze,
then again of the whole pack. Nearer and nearer
they came. A horseman dashed by in the direction
of the springs. We were all again in motion,
and from a station of greater eminence on the hill
at a little distance, where we were promised in a
short while a rare sight, as something fine had been
started.
We had not w^iited long before a large stag
made his appearance from the brushwood at the
side of the mountain, and bounded into the field, the
dogs after him in full cry. It w^as a most exciting
scene. The dogs were running beautifully, most of
them two and two, at full speed, and the deer about
twenty yards only, in front. Three times they
went round and across Briar-field, the hounds gaining
rapidly—now within a few feet of him—now