[45] Should they (unluckily for the lesson) run, you must endeavour to manage as detailed in [285].
[46] As he acquires experience he will wish to rise the moment he observes that your loading is completed. Do not allow him to move, however correctly he may have judged the time. Let his rising be always in obedience to signal or word. You may occasionally make a mistake in charging, or your friend may not load as expeditiously as yourself.
[47] Never being allowed to grip conduces so much to making him tender-mouthed, that, should he hereafter be permitted to lift his game, it is probable he will deliver it up perfectly uninjured.
[48] Oftener practicable on heather than on stubble.
[49] In order to work in silence, I advised ([xi]. of 141) that the signal to “heel,” whenever the dog could observe it, should supersede the word “dead.” It might be necessary to sing out with a boatswain’s voice should the dog be far off.
[50] Which becomes white in a severe winter,—a regular ermine; the only one of the weazel-tribe that does so in England.
[51] This note on the subject of trapping, and keeper’s vermin-dogs, &c., is so long that the printer has placed it in an [Appendix].
EDUCATION OF CHEETA.
The cheeta invariably selects the buck, passing by the nearer does and fawns. I never saw but one instance to the contrary. On that occasion the cheeta endeavoured to secure what appeared to be his easiest victim—a young fawn; but the little creature twisted and doubled so rapidly, that it escaped perfectly uninjured. The turbaned keeper, greatly surprised, begged the spectators to remain at a respectful distance while he proceeded to secure the panting, baffled animal. The caution was not unnecessary; for the disappointed beast, though usually very tractable, struck at the man’s arm and tore it. On examination a large thorn was found in one of the animal’s fore-paws, which fully explained the cause of his not bounding after the lord of the herd, when he had, in cat-like manner, stealthily crawled as near as any intervening bushes would afford concealment. This preliminary part of the affair is at times very tedious; the rest is quickly settled: for the wondrous springs of the cheeta (whose form then so apparently dilates,{1} that the observer, if a novice, starts in the belief that he suddenly sees a royal tiger) soon exhaust him, which accounts for his always creeping as near as possible before openly commencing his attack.