90 THE DEER FORESTS OF SCOTLAND. 



stag suddenly appeared in Achnacarry ; he had a 

 perfectly white face, and after every enquiry had 

 been made from the neighbours, it could not be 

 discovered that he had ever been seen before, 

 although he was a full-grown beast with six points — 

 not a very big stag, but yet not a very small 

 one. For ten years he remained in Achnacarry, 

 with the exception of one season, the eighth, when 

 he was not seen ; at the end of the ten years he dis- 

 appeared as suddenly and as mysteriously as he had 

 come, and has never been seen or heard of since. If 

 killed, it must have been poachers' work, for all the 

 neighbours knew of him, so that no rifle was ever 

 pointed at him, and although the deer-stealer may 

 perhaps have accounted for his vanishing, it is after all 

 not so remarkable as his first sudden appearance, and 

 where he came from must ever remain a puzzle, for 

 no one could have failed to notice a beast so strange, 

 as the whole front of his face from forehead to tip 

 of nose was so purely white and so conspicuous 

 that even at a good distance he could be seen 



