222 AN INVASION OF RATS AND MICE. 



gone about a mile up a burn that flowed through the glen, 

 when we heard a bellow in the wood above us ; we there- 

 fore sat down and listened. Soon it was repeated, this 

 time lower down in the wood and nearer, as though the 

 stag were about to cross the glen higher up ; so we quietly 

 moved on. We had not gone far when I caught sight of a 

 hind a short way ahead. She was crossing the burn, and, 

 from her nervous behaviour, it was evident she had got 

 wind of us. Just then I felt a tug at my coat from the 

 man following behind me, who directed my attention to the 

 head and shoulder of a good stag which was standing, within 

 easy range, among the trees ; but before I could cover him 

 with the rifle he was gone. He was a light-coloured stag, 

 and certainly not the beast we wanted to find. 



My tent had been pitched close to a corn-stack, in conse- 

 quence of which I was kept awake almost the whole night 

 by an invasion of rats and mice, that seemed to be amusing 

 themselves by running races over my bed. Next day our 

 search for the black fellow was again unsuccessful, the only 

 thing seen or heard being a stag with short horns, which we 

 "jumped" in the dusky twilight, and I missed. 



The following morning we tried the ground where I had 

 killed the first stag, as the one we were now hunting for 

 was supposed to have his present haunt in the dense wood 

 below it. Towards evening we sat down among the tall 

 brackens to watch the edge of the wood from the old spot. 

 After waiting for an hour or more, we were almost startled 

 by a loud bellow, which was soon repeated quite close to us 

 in the wood. Presently a small beast with short prongs 

 emerged from the cover on to the open side of the ridge, 

 where he at once commenced feeding. But I felt quite 

 certain that this was not the animal that had just bellowed 

 so loudly, and as he kept looking back towards the wood, I 

 was equally confident he was not alone. As he fed gradually 

 up towards where we were lying prone among the brackens, 

 Eamzan, who, excellent shikaree though he was, seemed to 



