248 THRILLING ADVENTURES. 



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THE EAGLES. 



one of the most stirring incidents in the volume, the stalking 

 of " The Muckle Hart of Benmore." 



" Malcolm, the shepherd of the sheiling at the foot of Ben 

 more, reported his having crossed in the hill a track of a hart 

 of extraordinary size, and guessed it must be i the muckle 

 stag of Benmore.' This was an animal seldom seen, but 

 which had long been the talk and marvel of the shepherds for 

 its wonderful size and cunning. They love the marvellous, 

 and in their report l the muckle stag' bore a charmed life ; 

 he was unapproachable and invulnerable. I had heard of him 

 too, and, having got the necessary information, resolved to try 

 to break the charm, though it should cost me a day or two. 



^ " Monday. This morning, at sunrise, Mr. St. John with 

 his rifle, Donald, an eccentric gillie, carrying his double-bar- 

 reled gun, and Bran, his deer-hound, took their way up the 

 glen to the sheiling at the foot of Benmore. After a fruitless 

 beating of the glen, we turned, at nightfall, to the sheiling, 

 rather disheartened ; but the shepherd cheered us by the 



