WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 



standing. I looked over my shoulder at Donald, who an- 

 swered my look with a moet significant kind of silent 

 chuckle; and, pointing at his knife, as if to say that we 

 should soon require its services, he signed to me to move 

 a little to the right hand, to get the animal free of the rock, 

 which prevented my shooting at him. I rolled myself quiet- 

 ly alittle to one side, and then silently cockingboth barrels, 

 rose carefully and slowly to one knee. I had already got 

 his head and neck within my view, and in another instant 

 would have had his shoulder. My finger was already on the 

 trigger, and I was rising gradually an inch or two higher. 

 The next moment he would have been mine, when, with- 

 out apparent cause, he suddenly moved, disappearing from 

 our sight in an instant behind the rocks. I should have 

 risen upright, and probably should have got a shot; but 

 Donald's hand was laid on my head without ceremony, 

 holding me down. He whispered, 'The muckle brute has 

 na felt us; we shall see him again in a moment." We waited 

 for a few minutes, almost afraid to breathe, when Donald, 

 with a movement of impatience, muttered, "'Deed, Sir, 

 but I 'm no understanding it," — and whispered to me to go 

 on to look over the ridge, which I did, expecting to see 

 the stao" feeding, or lying close below it. When I did look 

 over, however, I saw the noble animal at a considerable 

 distance, picking his way down the slope to join some 

 half-dozen hinds who were feeding below him, and who 

 occasionally raised their heads to take a good look at their 

 approaching lord and master. "The deil tak the brute," was 

 all that Donald said, as he took a long and far-sounding 

 pinch of snuff, his invariable consolation and resource in 



48 



