52 EEMINISCENCES OF THE LEWS. 



not get nearer than some two hundred yards, 

 and the only part of the stag he could then 

 see to shoot at was not the entire head, but the 

 angle formed by the jaw-bone with the head. 

 M'Aulay said it was useless to shoot, and 

 proposed letting the stag feed out of the spot ; 

 but Fred raised his rifle and shot him as dead 

 as a stone, to Mac's wonderment — not to mine, 

 for I am a believer in bottle-imps, and feel con- 

 vinced that at that very moment Fred entered 

 into compact with one, and that the day will 

 arrive when the said imp will come and claim 

 his reward. I have never doubted this, as I 

 have often told him ; and if there could be a 

 doubt, his next stalk settled the question. 



He got at a stag lying at the bottom of a 

 steep glen, above which was some very high, 

 rocky ground. All you could see of the stag, 

 as he lay crouched down, was the top of the 

 neck and shoulders — the back-bone, in short. 

 The distance was over two hundred yards, and 

 Fred shot him through the backbone, behind 

 the shoulders, and he never stirred. After this 

 the confidence between M'Aulay and F. M. was 

 perfect ; and the latter has often told me that 

 whenever they get at a stag, he is as certain 

 of him as if he was already gralloched. I have 

 stalked a great deal with him, and I remember 



