280 A HUNTING MAXIM. 



sage old adviser was away, casting about in the forest for the 

 lost track, or I should not have had to confess that in a 

 foolish fit of impatience I recklessly let drive a long random 

 shot. It was not only useless, but it lost me any chance I 

 might have had at the royal, which, but for my egregious 

 folly, I might possibly have got. There is nothing like con- 

 fessing one's mistakes, and they sometimes afford useful les- 

 sons. To abstain from firing random shots is a maxim which, 

 if followed, will gain the sportsman many a trophy, and will 

 save the humane shooter, and oftentimes his quarry, from 

 many a sore pang. 



The cold at night had become so bitter up here that the 

 camp was moved to a warmer locality below. The stags, 

 too, had apparently gone lower down, for they were now less 

 often heard high up. We resolved, however, to take another 

 turn over the higher ground before descending in the even- 

 ing to our new quarters. Our breakfasts had been discussed, 

 and we were all lounging lazily on a wooded spur when Eam- 

 zan, who was always on the alert, said he thought he heard 

 a hangul calling far away up on the hill above. So long a 

 time elapsed without a repetition of the sound, that I thought 

 he must have been mistaken. " Hark ! there he is again," says 

 the old man, as this time the wild cadence, mellowed by dis- 

 tance, comes distinctly over the hill behind us. As the 

 ground above is pretty open, the chances of a stalk are in 

 our favour, so we at once commence working upwards. After 

 a long and stiff pull we reach a ridge overlooking a deep sort 

 of corrie full of dense brushwood, from whence the bellowing 

 now comes repeatedly in hoarse volumes. After intently lis- 

 tening for some time, Eamzan gives his opinion that, judging 

 from the approaching sound and the direction of the wind, the 

 beast will very likely cross the open hill-face below us. No 

 sooner has he given vent to his prediction than another lusty 

 roar comes from almost directly below, and the long, white- 

 tipped, upper tines of the stag appear moving among the 



