122 STARTING THE ELK. 



clothes we wore, which were scanty enough, the night 

 was passed with tolerable comfort. As, however, at that 

 season of the year the hours of darkness were few, our 

 rest was not a very lengthened one, and on the following 

 morning, at an early hour, we were again following the 

 tracks. But it must have been seven or eight o'clock 

 before we succeeded in starting the deer, which was on a 

 pretty lofty and deeply-wooded eminence to the eastward 

 of the considerable river, Westra Dal-Elfven, that empties 

 itself into the Bothnian Gulf near to the town of Gefle. 

 The dogs were now slipped, and chase given at our 

 best pace, which was by no means a slow one. The 

 deer, when first started, doubled more than once, which 

 somewhat puzzled both us and the dogs ; but after a 

 time they separated, and took opposite directions. We 

 pursued the track of the larger one, which for a time kept 

 a pretty straight course. Hill and valley were traversed 

 in turn, and neither broken ground, nor dense brakes, 

 stopped our progress. 



The run had not been of any very long continuance, 

 however, when I received, as I imagined, a severe blow 

 on the back of my right leg, accompanied by a report as 

 loud at least as the explosion of a copper cap. Turning 

 round on the instant, I found that, instead of a blow, as I 

 at first supposed, one of the tendons of my right leg had 

 snapped,* and excessive lameness immediately ensued. I 

 was naturally in great tribulation, conceiving it all over with 



* At an after-period, and whilst pheasant shooting in England, a similar 

 circumstance occurred to me ; but though in both instances I halted for a 

 long time afterwards, my leg, eventually, perfectly recovered, and I now no 

 longer feel the effects of the injuries. 



