116 STALKS ABROAD 



this gully I quite expected the deer to come. In- 

 stead of that the old brute who was leading switched 

 off diagonally and trotted over the sky-line two hun- 

 dred yards distant. The stag followed stern on, and 

 the couple of hasty shots I fired left him in undis- 

 turbed possession of hinds and his head. Somewhat 

 gloomily we retraced our steps to the hut. After 

 breakfast, an eighteen-mile walk took us up to our 

 new camp. Burton went on in front and about 11.30 

 Buckley and I, who were some distance ahead of the 

 pack train, saw a nice stag suddenly trot out of a 

 small hollow within a quarter of a mile from the track. 

 He kept looking back, and following the direction of 

 his gaze we discovered Burton and Duncan in the 

 grotesque positions always assumed by stalkers to the 

 eye of an onlooker, apparently endeavouring to take 

 cover behind a blade of grass ! The manoeuvre, 

 though it looked impossible to us, was successful, for 

 after a short time the stag trotted on, joined seven or 

 eight hinds, who had suspiciously watched the pro- 

 ceedings, and then lay down in the sun on the top 

 of a small knoll. 



It is a true remark in stalking, whatever may be 

 its relation to other matters, that lookers-on see most 

 of the game. We had front seats on this occasion, 

 and for twenty minutes or so, were both edified and 

 amused to watch our friends engaged on what was 

 really a very good stalk. The ground was slightly 

 undulating, and by dint of careful crawling they 

 managed to get within eighty yards of the stag. 



