250 THRILLING ADVENTURES. 



came motionless, and he gave a sort of grunt as he changed 

 his posture, but without taking the glass from his eye. " Ugh ! 

 I'm thinking yon's him, sir, I'm seeing his horns." I was 

 at first incredulous ; hut the doubt was short. While we gazed, 

 the stag rose and commenced feeding , at last I saw the great 

 hart of Benmore ! He was a long way off, perhaps a mile 

 and a half, but in excellent ground for getting at him. Our 

 plan was soon arranged. I was to stalk him with the rifle, 

 while Donald, with my gun and Bran, was to get round, out 

 of sight, to the pass by which the deer was likely to leave the 

 valley. My task was apparently very easy. After getting 

 down behind the rock, I had scarcely to stoop my head, but 

 to walk up within shot, so favorable was the ground and the 

 wind. I walked cautiously, however, and slowly r to give 

 Donald time to reach the pass. I was now within three hun- 

 dred yards of him, when, as I leant against a slab of stone, 

 all hid below my eyes, I saw him give a sudden start, stop 

 feeding, and look round suspiciously. What a noble beast ! 

 what a stretch of antler ! with a mane like a lion ! He stood 

 for a minute or two, snuffing every breath. I could not guess 

 the cause of this alarm; it was not myself; the light wind 

 blew fair down from him upon me ; and I knew Donald would 

 give no inkling of his whereabouts. He presently began to 

 move, and came at a slow trot towards me. My pulse beat 

 high. Another hundred yards forward, and he is mine ! 

 But it was not so to be. He took the top of a steep bank 

 which commanded my position, saw me in an instant, and was 

 off, at the speed of twenty miles an hour, to a pass wide from 

 that where Donald was hid. While clattering up the hill, 

 scattering the loose stones behind him, two other stags joined 

 him, which had evidently been put up by Donald, and had 

 given the alarm to my quarry. It was then that his great 

 size was conspicuous. I could see with my glass they were 

 full-grown stags, and with good heads, but they looked like 

 fallow deer as they followed him up the crag. I sat down, 



