KEEPERANDDOG. 225 



and with evident difficulty. Once he stopped and stood in a 

 pitiful attitude, trembling all over, and moving his head up 

 and down as if oppressed with deadly sickness. After this 

 he seemed to recover slightly, and, standing erect, gazed with 

 care and anxiety in every direction ; then, as if determined 

 to make one more effort for his life, set off in a broken trot. 

 He had been winding about amongst the rocks all the time I 

 had been watching him, seldom more than two hundred 

 yards from me, and sometimes so near that I was half 

 tempted to try a shot at him ; but I was always in hopes of 

 getting within surer range, and did not fire. He now trotted 

 off about three hundred yards, where there was a small black 

 pool of water. Into this he went ; it did not at first reach 

 higher than his knees. Just then Donald appeared in view, 

 coming slowly and cautiously over the hill, and leading a 

 pointer in a string. I saw that the dog was tracking the 

 deer. It was a large powerful dog, of great size and 

 strength one of the finest, if not quite the finest built 

 dog of the kind that I had ever possessed or seen. Having 

 been at the death of one or two deer, he had taken a mighty 

 fancy to the scent of a bleeding stag, and tracked true and 

 keenly. I sat quiet to watch him and the old Highlander, 

 as they same slowly but surely on the track, with both their 

 noses to the ground ; Donald hunting low, in order to be sure 

 that the dog was still right, which he could tell pretty well 

 by the occasional spots of blood on the grey stones, though 

 the ground was too hard most of the way to show the mark 

 of the foot. Now and then they seemed quite thrown out 

 for a minute or so ; this I saw was generally occasioned by 

 Donald's want of judgment : the dog, though he strained on 

 the string, kept the track wonderfully well in every turn. 

 The poor object of their chase, when he first saw his enemies 

 appear, gave a sudden start, and seemed inclined to make off; 

 but on second thoughts he stopped short again, and, lowering 

 his head and neck, crouched in the water, as if trusting to 

 the surrounding rocks for concealment ; and there the poor 

 animal remained, with stooping horns, perfectly motionless, 

 but evidently with every nerve and sense on the alert, listen- 

 ing for the nearer approach of his enemies. For my own 

 part, I became quite interested in watching Donald and the 

 dog ; I knew that the stag was safely ours, as he .could not 

 leave the pool without coming into full view, and having to 

 depend on his speed for safety, which in his enfeeebled state 



