168 snooTiNG. 



more forced to abandon liis rifle to his gillie, and still he found him- 

 self lagging behind ; for Maccombich, stimulated by a sight of the 

 animals he loved, forgot the inability of others, and glided up the 

 hill with the swiftness and surefoote'dness of the goat. Even Glen- 

 vaUich at length found it expedient to call upon him to slacken liis 

 speed ; and Tresham, breathless and reding, was absolutely forced 

 to make frequent halts. Youth and spirits, and good English bot- 

 tom themselves, failed at length, and the young man came to a 

 standstill. ' You were right/ said he, ' about this cursed jacket ; 

 it is too heavy for such work — by the Lord, man ! a fellow to climb 

 this mountain should go in a cuerpo : the kilt's your only—to the 

 devil with the velveteen !' and he threw it from liim, remaining in 

 his shirt sleeves and waistcoat. — 'Stay, stay, Harry! those white 

 arms will never do ; they would give alarm at two miles' distance ; 

 here, here's the jacket you despised in the morning.' — ' Thank you 

 — this is a rehef ; and now have at it once more.' The liighest 

 point was reached at length, and a descent, little better than a pre 

 cipice, lay before them. But though Tresham, in cooler moments, 

 might have shuddered at the danger he ran, his mind was at this 

 time too highly excited to scruple at following his dariiig com- 

 panions, who bounded onwards at a rate which soon carried them 

 to the bottom. ' Now for it, Harry ; now for it in earnest,' said 

 Glenvallich, after a moment's halt to recover breath. ' Double 

 quick, while we may — we shall soon have to go slow enough ; ' and 

 entering the body of a shallow watercoui-se, they descended its 

 rough bed at a rapid pace. The waft of a hand from Duncan who 

 led, stopped the party; and crouching low, they changed their 

 quick step for a stealthy pace, with which they rounded a height, 

 and under its shelter remained, until their exact jposition, with 

 regard to the object of their quest, should be ascertained. ' Look 

 here,' whispered Glenvallich, taking Tresham by the arm, after 

 having made a sliort examination himseK ; ' what tliink you of Dun- 

 can for a pilot ? ' Kaising his eyes to a level with the heather top, 

 Tresham could see, at the distance of not more than three hundred 

 yards, the horns of a noble stag just arising between two hags. No 

 other part of the animal was visible ; but the moving of the antlers, 

 which slowly turned from side to side, proved sufficiently that he 

 niaintained a vigilant look-out after his own safety. ' We'll match 

 hirn yet, I think,' said Glenvallich. Ketreating a few yards, to get 

 further under cover of the rising ground, Maccombich, followed 

 by the rest of the party, crept on all-fours from the watercourse, 

 across thirty or forty yards of long heath-covered muir, until they 

 reached a maze of peat-bog cracks of little depth, but sufficient to 

 cover a man creeping flat upon his belly. That, although the moss 

 was moist and muddy, they were forced to submit to, as the only 

 way of crossmg unseen by their int ended victim, and in this manner 

 they gained about a hundred and fifty yards more upon the deer's 

 position. 



"The forester alone was now sent on to ascertain the means of 



