A MONTH AT STRATHMAACOE 207 



nothing of the big fellow could be seen, and it became un- 

 certain whether our quarry was lower down the hill or hidden 

 from our view by a projecting spur of rock. Just for fun, with 

 no intention of firing, I put the rifle to my shoulder, when 

 to my surprise Angus' long arm glided round me and depressed 

 the muzzle to the earth, while a hurried whisper came to my 

 ear, " There is another one just a wee bit better." 



Now as I also knew there was another and a very much 

 better one, I chuckled to myself at the thought of the surprise 

 it would be to Angus if we succeeded in killing the royal. The 

 situation was, however, getting critical and would speedily have 

 to be decided, for it was growing dusk so rapidly that unless 

 the small stag would kindly move out of the way it would 

 be impossible to make a further advance without letting him 

 into the secret of our presence, and in that case he would 

 be certaip to impart his discovery to his friends below. 



For some precious minutes we remained immovable, while 

 hoping the litde brute would take himself off, but he kept on 

 placidly browsing, while each mouthful he took was accom- 

 panied on our parts by anything but blessings on his head. 

 Dusker and dusker it grew, and matters began to look very 

 black ; so much so, that I thought of confiding all about the 

 royal to Angus, with the view of taking hurried counsel and 

 attempting some rash or daring manoeuvre. My own idea was 

 to put the rifle at full cock, and then with fingers fast set 

 between hammers and strikers, to make a dash down hill, 

 trusting to luck to get near enough to the big stag to take 

 a shot before he could run out of range. As I turned to 

 whisper my plans, I saw two other good-sized stags coming 

 up from the base of the hill to join the party above them, 

 for in addition to the small stag with the big one there were 

 also a lot of hinds. Angus had seen them too, and whispered 

 me in sad, despairing accents, " Hech, sir, if it were but later 

 in the season the other stag would soon put them awa, and 

 show us where he was." As he finished speaking the two 



