156 EEMINISCENCES OF THE LEWS. 



found him, not fifty yards from tlie place we 

 left him, as stifi" as a biscuit, and a right good 

 stag he was. We caught one of the wild ponies 

 of the country, tied the stag on him, and sent 

 him home under Sandie's care; and, as John 

 Munro and I were walking home together, what 

 should we come across but two other stags. 

 The demon of mischief came across us ; we 

 stalked them, and I killed one, a very old stag, 

 with a bad head. I could have killed the other 

 too, — only he was a small beastie, and I never 

 was a murderer, even with the few chances 

 I got on that uncertain ground, — for, as is often 

 the case, he did not like to leave his friend. 

 He kept waiting for him a little distance off, 

 returning, as they will do, to see why the other 

 did not follow; for the poor beasts often get 

 much attached to one another, and consort 

 kindly together till love and jealousy estrange 

 their hearts, just as they do those of their 

 two-legged foes, and then they forget their 

 old friends and auld lang syne, like human 

 beings. 



There is great fun and considerable excite- 

 ment in that stalking over flat ground. I don't 

 pretend to compare it to hill ground, or to 

 your fine hills and glens and corries of the Park 

 and the south of the Lews, and those grand 



