364 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CHAP. 



steady look with my own glass determined that the stones were 

 hinds, lying down in the deep heather near a spring in the 

 mountain side. The question remained : " Was there any hart in 

 the neighbourhood?" None could bo seen; the hounds were 

 about three-quarters of a mile distant in a straight line, but double 

 that distance by actual approach. It would never do to disturb 

 them, as their retreat would alarm any stag that might be lying 

 within view. The only plan was to back out of sight, to take the 

 wind, and to make a circuit round the hill, in order to come down 

 from above them. In stalking a deer, you should always endea- 

 vour to approach from above. The deer seldom looks towards a 

 height, but when standing upon an eminence, it looks downward 

 upon the great extent, which from its elevated position is exposed 

 to view. When you find it impossible to advance direct, and it 

 becomes necessary to make a long detour, the work begins, and 

 you appreciate the advantage of a thorough knowledge of the 

 country. We were soon out of sight, and crossing a lower shoulder 

 of the hill we had ascended, we hurried along the opposite side 

 under cover of the ridge for at least a mile and a half, and then 

 descending into a rocky torrent-bed, we commenced a careful ascent 

 towards the summit. This was a gap which formed the watershed, 

 and the source of the burn that we had adopted for our route. 

 We were now above the deer, and instead of being in our front, 

 they were upon our left. They were still lying down, and nothing 

 more was visible. Under these circumstances it was necessary to 

 cross the ridge and see what might be in view upon the other side 

 of the hill. We accordingly drew back, and then followed the 

 horse-shoe shape of the ridge, until we arrived upon the same slope 

 on which the deer were lying. We arrived at a broken portion of 

 the ridge, where large rocks were scattered over the surface ; 

 ascending to the sky-line, we had a clear view of the other side, as 

 we were now just above the hinds, which were not in sight, but 

 about 300 yards upon our left. 



Almost at the same moment, Sandy and myself, without utter- 

 ing a word, knelt slowly down. There was a pair of antlers and 

 a portion of a head about 200 yards below us on our right. The 

 stag was lying down in very deep heather. 



The wind was wrong ; but as we were high above him, we 

 remained unobserved. There were no means of stalking that stag, 

 as there was absolutely nothing except the heather to cover us. 

 I whispered to Sandy to remain where he was, while I would 

 endeavour to crawl cautiously through the heather. The face of 

 the hill was so steep that crawling head-foremost was impossible, 



