220 LOST TROPHIES ALWAYS THE FINEST. 



delusion. At any rate that stag must have borne a charmed 

 life, for, as he stood looking at us after the rifle was empty 

 wae's me ! it was only an old muzzle-loader my gun, 

 loaded with honest leaden bullets, was within arm's reach. 

 But its carrier, who I had no idea was crouching quite close 

 behind me, in his excitement had forgotten to hand it 

 to me. 



My frame of mind, as I plodded wearily down through 

 the dark pine-woods, was decidedly grumpy. For the best 

 part of two days did we perse veringly search for the 

 wounded stag, with only the doubtful satisfaction of finding 

 here and there a few drops of blood on the trail. Fancy is 

 often apt to picture the trophies one loses as the finest, but 

 those magnificent lost antlers haunt my memory to the 

 present day. 



The moon being now near its full, Eamzan proposed that 

 we should try watching beside one of the trags that was 

 most resorted to by the stags. We therefore shifted our 

 quarters back to the vicinity of the pool where, several 

 nights before, I had imagined the tournament had taken 

 place. Although this night-watching for stags is rather a 

 " shady " way of doing business, there is certainly a wild 

 charm about it on a calm moonlight night, as the sports- 

 man or poacher, as he may perhaps be considered lies in 

 wait, expectant for his quarry, beside some quiet pool, his 

 senses all quickening at the slightest rustle of a leaf in the 

 hushed forest. 



The shadows of evening were deepening in the woods 

 when we. spread our blankets behind some bushes under 

 the tall sombre pine-trees near the trag we intended watch- 

 ing. As night advanced, the occasional eerie hoot of a 

 great horned owl, or the flit of a flying squirrel among 

 the overhanging branches, where he nibbled the pine-cones, 

 only made the stillness more impressive. Our surround- 

 ings, too, became more weird-looking as the rising moon 

 shed a dim ghastly light on the gnarled and crooked stems " 



