CHAP. TWENTY-ONE MY FIRST STAG 



to look at a trap he had set, and in it we found a beautiful 

 marten cat, which we killed, and hid amongst the stones — 

 another good omen in Donald's eyes. 



On we went, taking a careful survey of the ground here 

 and there. At a loch whose Gaelic name I do not remember, 

 we saw a vast number of wild ducks, and at the further ex- 

 tremity of it a hind and calf feeding. We waited here for 

 some time, and I amused myself with watching the two 

 deer as they fed, unconscious of our neighbourhood, and 

 from time to time drank at the burn whichsupplied the loch. 

 We then passedoveralongdrearytractofbrownand broken 

 ground, till we came to the picturesque-looking placewhere 

 we expected to find the deer — a high conical hill, rising out 

 of rather flat ground, which gave it an appearance of being 

 of a greater height than it really was. We took a most care- 

 ful survey of the slope on which Donald expected to see 

 the deer. Below was an extensive level piece of heather with 

 a burn running through itin an endless varietyof windings, 

 and fringed with green rushes and grass, which formed a 

 strong contrast to the dark-coloured moor through which 

 it made its way, till it emptied itself into along narrow loch, 

 beyond which rose Ben Cleebrich and some more of the 

 highest mountains in Scotland. In vain we looked and look- 

 ed, and Donald at last shut up his telescope in despair: 

 "They are no' here the day," was his remark. "But what is 

 that,Donald.''"saidI,pointingtosomebluish-lookingobject 

 I saw at some distance from us rising out of the heather. The 

 glass was turned towards it, and after having been kept mo- 

 tionless for some time, he pronounced it to be the head and 

 neck of a hind. I took the glass, and while I was looking at 

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