WAYS OF RED DEER. 83 



It happened once that a ' forester ' was 

 discovered in a certain district, and a party 

 was quickly formed to go out and shoot 

 the stag. Among those who went was a 

 man well known as a successful deer shot, 

 upon whose good aim they chiefly relied. 

 They took with them a gallon of spirits. 

 After some time spent in searching for 

 the stag, and just as they were beginning 

 to weary of the attempt, up the ' forester ' 

 jumped close to the party. A volley was 

 fired — the muzzles almost touching the stao; 

 — but the game went off at full speed. 

 The old gunner, however, declared that he 

 had hit the mark, he was sure he had aimed 

 straight. In a minute or two, as they 

 watched the stag bounding up the hill a 

 mile away, suddenly he dropped and lay 

 still, evidently dead. It was found after- 

 wards that the ball from the old gunner's 

 weapon had grazed the stag's heart, and yet 

 with that wound he had run upwards of a 

 mile. No other bullet had struck him ; it 



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