226 A sporting Tour in Norway. [Sess. 



following morning, we again saw numerous fresh tracks ; and, 

 full of anticipation, we pushed forward. For long weary 

 hours we travelled over rock, snow, and barren wastes, till 

 that terrible hunger- craving warned me in unmistakable 

 language to retrace my steps towards the steter, and thence 

 back to the village. Still we persevered till after mid-day, 

 and were circling round the summit of a rocky mountain to 

 make straight for the sseter, when, far down below us, I got 

 my eyes on some moving objects, which, on applying the 

 telescope, I discovered to be deer. Fried liver and venison 

 steak were uppermost in my mind, and no time was lost in 

 stalking them. The wind was by no means steady ; but we 

 managed to get within two hundred yards, when I perceived 

 that they became uneasy, some of them getting up and looking 

 suspiciously around. The remainder were quickly on their 

 feet, snifl&ng in all directions, evidently suspicious of the pres- 

 ence of enemies. They seemed unable to discover in what 

 direction the danger lay, but they made off, and I prepared to 

 shoot. Picking out the largest I could see, I brought the rifle 

 to my shoulder and quickly fired. Not having the proper use 

 of my right arm, I unintentionally let both barrels off at once, 

 but the stag kept on. The killing of a deer was, under the 

 circumstances, a work of necessity, as I was now feeling weak 

 with hunger ; so, opening the breech of the rifle, I quickly 

 reloaded, and on looking up saw two large stags, which, 

 hitherto unperceived, had risen from behind a knoll, and 

 were galloping past me broadside-on at a distance of eighty 

 or ninety yards. Never in all my previous experience did I 

 get such a chance, and I was fortunate in rolling them both 

 over. With a grateful heart I ran up, admiring the dimen- 

 sions of the antlered heads. My two companions also running 

 forward, exclaimed, " Stor bocks ! " or big bucks. In a trice 

 one of them got out his knife, and thrust it into the chest of 

 one of the stags ; and the other, taking from his knapsack a 

 metal cup, caught the blood as it gurgled out, and drank it 

 off. Both of them drank several cupfuls ; but I must con- 

 fess that I felt a sort of sickening sensation, and, hungry 

 as I was, could not brook the idea of tasting warm blood. 

 Turning away, I got my eyes on the retreating herd of deer, 

 now far up the mountain-side, and one a long way behind the 



