NEW ZEALAND DEER-STALKING 123 



what she might devour. Whatever else might fill 

 her hungry maw, the black rabbits were quite of a 

 mind that their sleek little bodies should remain in 

 their present owners' possession. 



At length we gave up waiting and started up the 

 hill. Hardly had we advanced a quarter of a mile 

 when a hind followed by her calf appeared in full 

 view and fed along the edge of a burn. For a long 

 time we lay and watched them, as there was an off- 

 chance that the stag might be lying on the edge of 

 the bush waiting until quite certain that the coast was 

 clear before emerging. The hinds fed on in solitude, 

 however, and presently crawling back until the cover 

 of a friendly hollow hid us from their view, we re- 

 commenced the ascent. The wind was all over the 

 place. At the foot of the hill it was blowing up ; at 

 the top down. The mist was crawling up the valley, 

 the clouds sailed steadily across it in precisely the 

 opposite direction. Under the circumstances it was 

 somewhat difficult to decide which way to go. The 

 stag might be in either of two corries whose lower 

 slopes were covered with bush, and the best thing to 

 do seemed to get above them and endure another 

 period of waiting, trusting to luck that he would feed 

 out in the evening. It was three o'clock when we got 

 to the top of the first ridge ; then, as society novelists 

 say, events moved rapidly to a conclusion ! 



Hardly had we seated ourselves behind a large 

 tussock of snow-grass, than a stag roared in a gully 

 below us. He was only a small beast, and as I 



