430 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CUAP. 



was soon up, ami I found he had gained an impregnable position 

 in a broad j>ortion of the river, where the water was about 3 feet 

 deep; this was just above a frightful waterfall about 100 feet in 

 depth. On one side of the river the banks were precipitous, and 

 about 12 feet high. Beneath this steep place of refuge the stag 

 was standing, and for about ten minutes he amused himself by 

 striking the dogs beneath the water in every direction, whenever 

 they ventured to approach by swimming. 



" I saw there was no chance for the unfortunate dogs ; I there- 

 fore determined to try my fortune with the knife. 



" From the high bank above the deer I noticed an overhanging 

 branch which I thought would be sufficiently elastic to bear my 

 weight. I accordingly grasped this with my left hand, and with 

 my knife in my right I made a jump downward, intending to strike 

 the stag between the shoulders, and then to regain my position by 

 means of the elastic bough. I made the attempt; the bough 

 broke, in an instant I was on the deer's back, and in another 

 moment fell sprawling in the water. 



" The stag sprang away as though stung by a hornet, but the 

 knife had entered to the hilt, and I had struck him just between 

 the shoulders. 



" The dogs, having seen me attack, rushed at the stag as he 

 passed by, and at the same moment Bertram was seen hanging on 

 his ear. Lucifer had him a second later, and the stag, shunning 

 the brink of the waterfall, dashed through some thick bushes to 

 the left with the dogs holding him, and in a moment they 

 disappeared. 



"I heard a dull heavy sound like the fall of some solid body; 

 upon approaching the spot, I found the greater portion of the dogs. 

 They were on the brink of a precipice about 30 feet deep, down 

 which the stag, with Bertram, Lucifer, and Ploughboy, had fallen. 

 Fortunately some dense tufts of bushes grew from the sides of the 

 almost perpendicular cliff; these had broken their fall, otherwise 

 they would have been killed. As it happened, they were not only 

 unhurt, but I heard them at bay beneath. 



"By making a circuit of about 100 yards, I discovered a place 

 by which I could descend. The dogs had preceded me, and I 

 heard a tremendous bay on a ledge of rock which formed a narrow 

 terrace or shelf; there was a chasm below, and a wall-like cliff 

 above, covered with bush ; clown this the stag and dogs had fallen, 

 being saved from certain destruction by being caught upon the 

 ledge. 



" Having descended and gained this shelf, I made my way 



