126 STALKS ABROAD 



creek until a ledge far below us checked his downward 

 career. 



" He's got four on this top ! " cried Buckley, as we 

 scrambled down the hill. 



" And four on the other ! " I cried, " he's a 

 thirteen-pointer." But he wasn't ; he was fourteen 

 (one of his bays snapped off close to the beam had 

 misled me) and a beautifully symmetrical head at 

 that. He must have been leading a fearful life in the 

 strenuous past, for he was only skin and bones, and in 

 addition to the broken bay had smashed the tray 

 point above, one top badly and the other slightly. 



Then it was that I blessed the little royal, for had 

 I not stalked him and so come down 011 the southern 

 instead of the northern side of the corrie wherein I 

 had killed both him and the fourteen -pointer, I should 

 never have seen the latter at all. That finished our 

 stalking, for the following morning was thick with 

 mist, and for the next five days we had nothing else 

 and never saw the sun once. 



Nearly all the deer I saw in this valley were 

 splendid-looking animals in first-rate condition, which 

 was rather a contrast to the Dingle. I was very 

 much impressed with the amount of " rubbish " I saw 

 during my fortnight's stalking there. I do not pro- 

 fess to have more than a hearsay acquaintance with 

 the majority of the best forests in Scotland, though I 

 have stalked in a good many localities during the past 

 ten years, but never, even in small outlying forests, on 

 anything like the same area of ground, have I seen in 



