THE HIGHLANDERS' STAG. 221 



Scotchmen did not comprehend the value and opportune- 

 ness of the present ; then one of them suggested the idea 

 of entrusting the animal to the musicians of the company, 

 who undertook his education. The music for awhile 

 seemed to frighten the timid quadruped; but he gradually 

 grew accustomed to it, and at the end of six months was 

 as tame and familiar as a King Charles's dog. Every 

 morning he might be seen to leave the hut which had been 

 erected for him in the courtyard of the barracks, ascend 

 the staircase, and knock at each door of the musicians' 

 gallery to get a piece of biscuit. From some strange caprice 

 he would never touch a bit which had been touched by 

 human teeth. Frequent attempts were made to deceive 

 him, but in vain ; he always discovered the stratagem. 



When I for the first time made this interesting animal's 

 acquaintance, three years had elapsed since he had made 

 his debut in public, to the astonishment of the New York 

 cockneys. He had attained his full development, and was 

 assuredly very handsome, with his head superbly erect, 

 and crowned with fourteen antlers. He was a full-grown 

 stag of the most majestic bearing ; only age had rendered 

 him somewhat irritable and capricious, and he was with 

 difficulty prevented from running full butt against an 

 audacious civilian who had ventured to pass between him 

 and the band when the company was on the march. 



One day, in 1844, during an excursion made by the 

 third brigade, including the Highland Company, to Fort 

 Hamilton, the stag, profiting by the repose which the 

 Scotchmen were enjoying in the shelter of the ramparts, 

 mounted to the summit, and began to browze tranquilly 

 on the grass growing in the interstices between the 



