Unexplored Spain Part 5

Such matutinal forays are, however, but an incident. The main system of dealing with the deer is by driving. For this purpose both the fragrant solitudes of pine and far-stretched wilds of bending cistus are mentally mapped out by the forest-guards into definite "beats," each of which has its own name; though to a casual visitor (since guns are necessarily placed differently day by day according to the wind) the actual boundaries may appear indefinite enough.

On lowlands such as the Coto Donana, which is more or less level and open, the use of far-ranging rifles is necessarily restricted by considerations of safety. Obviously no shot, on any pretext whatever, may be fired either into the beat or until the game has pa.s.sed clear of and well outside the line of guns. In every instance, as a gun is placed, the keeper in charge indicates by lines drawn in the sand or other unmistakable means the limits within which shooting is absolutely prohibited. The result, it follows, not only increases the prospective difficulty of the shot, but gives fuller scope to the instinctive intelligence of the game. For deer, unlike some winged game, do not, when driven, dash precipitately straight for illusory safety, but retire slowly and with extreme circ.u.mspection; all old stags, in particular, fully antic.i.p.ate hidden dangers to lie on their line of flight, and narrowly scrutinise any suspicious feature ahead before taking risks.

The gunner will therefore be wise to occupy the few minutes that remain available in so arranging both himself and his post as to be inconspicuous; and also in an accurate survey of his environment with its probable chances, thereby minimising the danger of being taken by surprise. The cunning displayed by an old stag when endeavouring to evade a line of guns at times approaches the marvellous. Thus, on one occasion, the writer was warned of the near approach of game by a single "clink"--a noise which deer sometimes make, probably unintentionally, with the fore-hoof--yet seconds elapsed, and neither sight nor sound were vouchsafed. Then the slightest quiver of a bough beneath caught my eye. A big stag with antlers laid flat aback, and crouching to half his usual height, though going fairly fast, was slipping, silent and invisible, through thick but low brushwood immediately beneath the little hillock whereon I lay. On examining the spot, the spoor showed that he had pa.s.sed thus through openings barely exceeding two feet in height, though he stood himself forty-six inches at the withers. The feat appeared impossible.[8]

[Ill.u.s.tration: SUSPICION]

In thick forest or brushwood that limits the view it may be advisable to sit with back towards the beat, relying on ears to indicate the approach or movements of game. While sitting thus, it will occur that you become aware of the arrival of an animal, or of several animals, immediately behind you. The natural inclination to look round is strong; but 'twere folly to do so--fatal to success. This is the critical moment, when a few seconds of rigid stillness will be rewarded by a shot in the open.

But that stillness must be statuesque, as of a stone G.o.d. For piercing eyes are instantly studying each bush and bough, and a.n.a.lysing at close quarters the least symptom of danger ahead.

Should a good stag break fairly near, it is advisable to allow it to pa.s.s well away before moving a muscle. For should the game be prematurely alarmed--say by your missing exactly upon the firing-line, or otherwise by its detecting your movement of preparation--that stag will instantly bounce back again into the beat. Then, a.s.suming that the sportsman is a tyro, or subject to "emotions" or buck-fever, there is danger of his forgetting for one moment his precise permitted line of fire; in which case a perilous shot must result. Once allowed to pa.s.s _well outside_, the stag will usually continue on his course.

In this, as in every form of sport, "soft chances" occasionally occur.

More often, the rifle will be directed at a galloping stag cras.h.i.+ng through bush that conceals him up to the withers; or, it may be, bounding over inequalities of broken ground or brushwood, or among timber, at any distance up to 100 yards, sometimes 150, while, should he have touched a taint in the wind, his pace will be tremendous.

Although to casual view a plain of level contours this country is undulated to an extent that deceives a careless eye--the more accentuated by the monotone of cistus-scrub that appears so uniform. In reality there traverse the plain glens and gently graded hollows the less apt to be noticed, inasmuch as the scrub in moister dell grows higher.

Far through the marish green and still the watercourses sleep.

Inspiring moments are those when--before the beat has commenced--your eye catches on some far-away skyline the broad antlers of a stag. This animal has perhaps been on foot and alert, or maybe has taken the "wind"

from the group of beaters wending a way to their points far beyond. For three seconds the antlers remain stationary, then vanish into some intervening glen. A glance around shows your next neighbour still busy completing his shelter--meritorious work if done in time--and you have strong suspicion that the man beyond will just now be lighting a cigarette! Such thoughts flash through one's mind; the dominant question that fills it is: "Where will that great stag reappear?" But few seconds are needed to solve it. Perhaps he dashes, harmless, upon the careless, perhaps upon the slow--lucky for him should either such event befall! On the other hand, those moments of glorious expectancy may resolve in a crash of brushwood hard by, in a clinking of cloven hoofs, and a n.o.ble hart with horns aback is bounding past your own ready post. What proportion, we inwardly inquire, of the stags that are killed by craftsmen has already, just before, offered first chance to the careless or the slovenly?

[Ill.u.s.tration: "INSPIRING MOMENTS."

(NEITHER CAUGHT NAPPING.)]

We may conclude this chapter with an independent impression.

Lying hidden in one of these lonely _puestos_--writes J. C.

C.--ever induces in me a powerful and sedative sense of contemplation and reflection, though fully alert all the time.

While thus waiting and watching, I can't but marvel, first at nature's wondrous plan of waste--a scheme here without apparent object or promise of fulfilment. Where I lie the prospect comprises nothing but melancholy and unutterably silent solitudes of sand, droughty wastes with but at rare intervals some starveling patch of scant weird shrub destined either to shrivel in summer's sun or s.h.i.+ver in winter's winds. But, lying in that environment, one marvels yet more at the extreme caution displayed by wild animals; one has exceptional opportunity of admiring the exquisitive gifts bestowed by nature upon her _ferae_. Here is a young stag coming straight along, down-wind, ere yet the beat has begun, and in a desolate spot which to human sense could betray absolutely no feature or taint of danger. Suddenly he becomes rigid, arrested in mid-career--sniffing at a pure untainted air, yet conscious somehow of something wrong somewhere! It is a miraculous gift, though one cannot but feel grateful that we humans are devoid of senses that ever keep nerves in highest tension. Here is a sketch of a non-shootable stag thus suddenly statuetted thirty yards from me snugly hidden well down-wind, and so intensely interested that _something else_ (a very old pal) well-nigh escaped notice.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ALTABACA (_Scrofularia_)

The starveling shrub that grows in sand.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: TOMILLO DE ARENA

Another sand-plant (in spring has a lovely pink bloom like sea-thrift).]

That something was our good friend Reynard--_Zorro_ they style him out here--whose proverbial cunning exceeds all other cunnings. He has come down to my track and there stopped dead, expressing in every detail the very essence of doubly-distilled subtlety and craft. At those footprints he halts, sniffs the wind, curls his brush dubiously--as a cat will do when pleased--but not sure yet of his next move. One second's consideration decides him and it is executed at once--he is off like a gust of wind. But a Paradox ball at easy range in the open broke a hind-leg, and it was curious to note his evolutions--he, poor fellow, not realising what had occurred, flung himself round and round in rapid gyrations, the while biting at his own hind-leg. Needless to say not an instant pa.s.sed ere a second ball terminated his sufferings. To observe the beautiful traits in the habits of wild beasts is to me quite as great a joy as adding them to my score and immensely augments the enjoyment of a big-game drive.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "WHAT'S THIS?"]

RED DEER HEADS--_COTO DOnANA_.

This list is neither comprehensive nor consecutive, but merely a record of such good and typical heads as we happened to have within reach.

_For Table of Heads of Mountain-Deer see Chapter on Sierra Morena._

---------------+---------------+--------------+--------+-------+-------------- | | Widest. | | | | Length. |--------------|Circ.u.m- |Points.| Remarks.

| (Inches.) |Tips. |Inside.|ference.| | ---------------+---------------+------+-------+--------+-------+-------------- W. I. B. |32-1/4 |30 |... | ... | 13 | Do. |31 + 30-1/4 |32-5/8|... | ... | 10 |No bez.

P. Garvey | 31 |28 |... | 4-5/8 | 15 | Col. Brymer |30-1/2 + 28 |27 |23 | 4-1/4 | 10 |No bez.

Col. Echague |30-1/8 + 28-1/2|20 |18 | 4-1/2 | 14 |4 on each top.

Villa-Marta, |29-3/4 + 29-1/2|31-1/4|... | 4-1/2 | 13 |4 on each top, Marquis | | | | | | but 1 bez | | | | | | wanting.

Segovia, | | | | | | Gonzalo[9] |29-3/4 + 29-1/2|39-1/2|... | 5-1/4 | 10 |No bez.

Arion, Duke of |29 + 28 |30 |... | ... | 14 | A. C. |29 + 28-1/4 |25 |... | 5 | 12 | Do. |28-1/2 |26-1/2|... | 5-1/8 | 13 | P. N. Gonzalez |28-1/2 |25 |22 | 5 | 12 | Arion, Duke of |28-1/4 |23 |21-1/2 | 4-1/8 | 10 |No bez.

F. J. Mitch.e.l.l |28 + 27 |30-1/2|... | ... | 14 |4 on each top.

A. C. |27 + 26-3/4 |24 |24 | 4-1/4 | 10 | Do. |25-1/2 |28-1/4|24 | 4-1/5 | 11 |At British | | | | | | Museum.

Williams, Alex.|25-1/2 |27-3/4|23-1/4 | 4-1/4 | 12 | B. F. B. |25-3/4 + 24 |27-1/4|22-3/4 | 4-1/4 | 12 | De Bunsen, | | | | | | Sir M. |25-1/2 + 25 |27 |... | 4-1/2 | 11 | B. F. B. |24-1/2 + 24-1/2|27-1/2|... | 4-1/2 | 12 | J. C. C. | 23 |29-1/2|22-1/2 | 4-1/8 | 12 | B. F. B. |22-1/2 |21-1/2|19 | 4-1/4 | 12 | ---------------+---------------+------+-------+--------+-------+-------------

Ordinary Royals (by which we mean full-grown stags in their first prime) average 24 or 25 inches in length of horn. Heads of 26 to 28 inches belong to rather older beasts which have continued to improve. Anything beyond the latter measurement is quite exceptional, and is often due, not so much to fair straight length of the main beam as to an abnormal development of one of the top tines--usually directed backwards. There are, however, included in our records two or three examples of long straight heads which fairly exceed the 30-inch length.

CHAPTER V

ANDALUCIA AND ITS BIG GAME

STILL-HUNTING (RED DEER)

The line of least resistance represents twentieth-century ideals--maximum results for the minimum of labour or technical skill. In the field of sport, wherever available, universal "driving" supersedes the arts of earlier venery--the pride of past generations.

In Spain, more leisurely while no less dignified, there survive in sport, as in other matters, practices more consonant with the dash and chivalry popularly ascribed to her national character. Such, for example, is the attack, single-handed, on bear or boar with cold steel--_a arma blanca_, in Castilian phrase. Here we purpose describing the system of "Still-hunting" (_Rastreando_) as practised in Andalucia with a skill that equals the best of the American "Red Indian," and is only surpa.s.sed, within our experience, by Somalis and Wandorobo savages in East Africa.

Before day-dawn we are away with our two trackers. Maybe it is a lucky morning, and as the first streaks of light illumine the wastes, they reveal to our gaze a first-rate stag. In that case the venture is vastly simplified. It is merely necessary to allow time for the stag to reach his lie-up, and the spoor can be followed at once. But barring such exceptional fortune, it is necessary to find, or rather to select from amidst infinity of tracks crossing and recrossing hither and thither in bewildering profusion the trail of such a master-beast as clearly is worthy the labour of a long day's pursuit. Twice and again we follow a spoor for 100 yards or more over difficult ground before finally deciding that its owner is not up to our standard of quality, and the interrupted search is resumed. Once found, there is rarely room for mistake with a really big spoor. The breadth of heel, the length and deep-cut prints of the cloven toes attest both weight and quality. The ground is open, soft, and easy. The big new track, with its spurts of forward-projected sand, are visible yards ahead. We follow almost at a run--how simple it seems! But not for long. Soon comes check No. 1. A dozen other deer have followed on the same line, and the original trail is obliterated. The troop leads on into a region of boundless bush, shoulder-high, where the ground is harder and the trackers spread out to right and left, backing each other with silent signals. Their skill and patience fascinate; but it is to me, in the centre, that after a long hour's scrutiny, falls the satisfaction of rediscovering that big track where it diverges alone on the left. Half a mile beyond, our erratic friend has pa.s.sed through water. For a s.p.a.ce a broken reed here or displaced lilies there help us forward; then the deepening water, all open, bears no trace. The opposite sh.o.r.e, moreover, is fringed by a 200-yard belt of bulrush and ten-foot canes, and beyond all that lies heavy jungle.

You give it up? Admittedly these are no lines of least resistance, but we will cut the unpopular part as short as may be and merely add that it was high noon ere, after three hours' work--puzzling out problems and paradoxes, now following a false clue, anon recovering the true one--that at last the big spoor on dry land once more rejoiced our sight. More than that, it now bears evidence--to eyes that can read--that our stag is approaching his selected stronghold. He goes slowly. Here he has stopped to survey his rear--there he has lingered to nibble a genista, and the spoor zigzags to and fro. Now it turns at sharp angle, following a cheek-wind, and a suggestive grove of cork-oaks embedded in heavy bush lies ahead. One hunter opines the stag lies up here: the other doubts. No half-measures suffice. We turn down-wind, detouring to reach the main outlet (_salida_) to leeward; here I remain hidden, while my companions, separating on right and left, proceed to encircle the _mancha_. Two hinds break hard by, and presently Juan returns with word that the stag has pa.s.sed through the covert--better still, that a second big beast has joined the first, and that the double spoor, moving dead-slow and three-quarters up wind, proceeds due north.

Another mile and then right ahead lies heavy covert, but long and straggling, and the halting trail indicates this as a certain find.

The strategic position is simple, but tactics, for a single gun, leave endless scope for decision. Our first rule in all such cases is to get _close in_, risk what it may. Hence, while my companions separated, as before, to encircle the covert from right and left, the writer crept forward yard by yard till a fairly broad and convenient open suggested the final stand.

Not ten minutes had elapsed, nor had a sound reached my ears, when as by magic the figure of a majestic stag filled a glade on the left--what a picture, as with head erect he daintily picked his unconscious way!

Clearly he suspected nothing _here_; but, having got sense, sight, or scent of Juan far beyond, was astutely moving away, with intelligent antic.i.p.ation, to safer retreat. The shot was of the simplest, and merely black antlers crowned with triple ivory tips marked the fatal point among deep green rushes.

Now when two big stags fraternise, as they frequently do, it usually happens that, when pressed, both animals will finally seek the same exit, even though a shot has already been fired there. I had accordingly instructed the keepers that in the event of my firing, each should discharge his gun in the air, at the same time loosing one dog. The expected shots now rang out, presently followed by a cras.h.i.+ng in the brushwood. This proved to be caused by a handful of hinds with, alas!

the loose dog baying at their heels. The adverse odds had fallen to zero, till Juan, divining what had occurred, fired again and slipt the other dog. Anxious minutes slowly pa.s.sed while my two biped sleuth-hounds on the other side gradually, yard by yard, made good their advance; for the wit and wiles, the practised cunning of an old stag when thus cornered, need every sc.r.a.p of our human skill to out-general, and nothing to spare at that. But that skill was not at fault to-day, and in the thick of the _mancha_, Manuel presently "jumped" the recusant hart from almost beneath his feet, and his view-halloa reached expectant ears.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Then, within a few yards of the spot where No. 1 had silently appeared, out bounced No. 2, but in widely different style. In huge bounds, with head and neck horizontal and antlers laid flat aback, he covered the open like a racer. The first shot got in too far back, but the second went right, and the two friends lay not divided in death. Both were _coronados_ (triple-crowned), indeed the second carried four-on-top in double pairs as sketched--a not uncommon formation--but being very old, lacked bez tines.

Very nearly five hours had elapsed since we had first struck the spoor, five hours of concentrated attention, crowned by the final a.s.sertion of human "dominion." And during these moments of permissible expansion, there was impressed on our minds the fact that such success involves mastery of a difficult craft.