226 DEER-STALKING. 



was the last thing he would like to do. Donald looked 

 anxiously round him sometimes, as if he hoped to see me, 

 and as if he expected to hear my rifle every moment, since 

 he was well aware that our time of meeting was past, and 

 that I was pretty sure not to be far off. When he came 

 near the " Devil's Stone " he checked the dog, and came to 

 a determined halt, hesitating whether to continue tracking 

 the stag, or to wait for my appearance and assistance ; he 

 took a long look too at the country far beyond where the 

 animal really was. It was amusing to see the old fellow, as 

 he sat within eighty yards of me, perfectly unconscious that 

 the stag was so near him, and that I was still nearer. The 

 whole thing too, showed the great necessity of always having 

 a good tracking dog out when deer-stalking ; for here was a 

 mortally-struck stag lying concealed, where a dozen men 

 might have passed within a few yards without seeing him. 

 I thought it time to finish the business, and gave a low 

 whistle to warn Donald of my neighbourhood before I stirred, 

 as I thought it not at all unlikely that he would tire blindly 

 at the first moving thing he saw amongst the rocks in his 

 present excited state. He started and stared round him. I 

 saw that the deer only crouched the lower, and would not 

 move ; so, whistling again, I stood up. " The Lord keep us, 

 Sir, but you flegged me just awful ! " said Donald. " But did 

 your Honour see a stag come this way ? " I told him that I 

 had, and that he had passed on ; but I did not say how far 

 he had gone. The old man was annoyed in no slight degree 

 at the information ; and on my questioning him how he had 

 got at the deer, &c., he told me that, as he came to meet me, 

 he had seen a crippled stag coming slowly over the ground 

 exactly towards him ; and that having stooped down and 

 loaded the gun he carried as quickly as he could, he had 

 waited till the stag passed within twenty yards of him ; that 

 he then fired both barrels, one at his head and neck ; that 

 one ball had broken off a portion of the animal's horn, while 

 the other had passed througli his body, tumbling him over for 

 a moment ; but that he had quickly recovered and made off 

 in my direction, and was probably now in the burn over the 

 next hill. " But you are aye smiling, Sir ; and I ken weel 

 that you've seen more of the brute than you tell rne." I 

 told the old man exactly where he was ; and having made 

 him quite understand the very rock he was behind, I gave 

 him the rifle to finish the work he had commenced, while I 



