308 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 



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reat deal of trouble to get him. After searching 

 tiie forest all tlay I discovered a herd of about thirty 

 deer, and among them some of the best bucks left in 

 the vicinity of Burley Lodge ; but they were all on a 

 little narrow lawn, feeding or lying down, in the midst 

 of short heather with not a bush to screen the stalker. 

 It was a gusty day, with occasional showers; the 

 wind being high, much in my favour. It was a 

 lono- and a wet stalk I had to make through the wet 

 weather, and when the sun came out I lay still, 

 when it blew and rained, then crawled on again. 

 The heather was scarce above the top of my head, 

 however low it was carried; and in some places, to 

 keep out of sight, I was obliged to crawl on my breast. 

 Now and then a little suspicious and capricious doe 

 would look about her ; once she either caught sight 

 of my shoulder or a motion in the heather, and stared 

 for about ten minutes right at me, but I lay on my 

 face, with an occasional peep between the roots, and, so 

 Ions: as her forehead and erect ears were visible, I 

 remained still. She at last also lay down, and then, 

 when I looked up, nothing could be seen of the herd 

 but the broad palmated tops of the old bucks' horns. 

 " Now is the time," I thought ; and on I crept, re- 

 solved not to cease from an endeavour in this cramped 

 position, wet as I was, till I got within shot. I 

 peeped up again, and found myself within fifty yards 

 of the herd, all of them very quiet and lying down 

 close too;ether, their haunches to the 's\'ind and their 

 heads obliquely towards me, so close that not even a 

 head was fair without endangering other deer. I 

 lay for at least half an hour, in the hope that some 

 Avould rise and feed; but not a deer stirred. Seeing them 

 so quiet I moved on again, and this time so far that, 



