WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 



over the dogs,trampled them underfoot.and strikingOscar 

 a sharp blo\v(whichluckilyonlygrazedhim)with his antler, 

 took down the stream again. We looked round for Donald, 

 and presently saw him crouched on a rock immediately 

 above the stream, and about two hundred yards below us. 

 The dogs recovered quickly, and were again close on the 

 stag. He stopped two or three times for a few moments, 

 turning fiercely on the hounds, and at last came to bay in 

 a determined style, under the very rock where Donald was 

 concealed. The next moment we saw the deer stagger and 

 fall in the water, and immediately heard the report of 

 Donald's gun. Before the stag could recover, both hounds 

 were on him, worrying at his throat like bulldogs, and after 

 one or two efforts to rise, the poor animal's head sank into 

 the pool, which was soon red with the blood that bubbled 

 up from his mouth and nostrils. Donald had shot him just 

 behind the heart with his single ball, which had cut the 

 large blood-vessels. 



"Puir brute, puir brute, it's just a sorrow to see him," 

 said Malcolm: and, now that the excitement of the chace 

 was over, I also would have given much to have been able 

 to bring the gallant animal to life again. We got him out 

 of the water, and were soon joined by Willie Young, who 

 sighed more than once, and took a vast pinch of snuff out 

 of Donald's box, half sorry to see his old acquaintance, the 

 white stag, as he called him, lying dead and bloody on the 

 heather. 



As Oscar had got a rather awkward, though not very 

 deep cut,and Bran seemed rather the worse for his bruises, 

 I left Donald and the shepherd to attend to the removal of 



448 



