310 llEMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 



with his horns ; away went the herd, and I hastened 

 up to give the coup-de-grdce. The buck was dead 

 when I arrived, for the ball had struck above the 

 old wound, nearer the horn in a more deadly place, 

 and had settled the matter. He was a very old 

 buck, had been one of the best on the walk, but had 

 wasted a little in the last two or three days on 

 account of the wound, but was, nevertheless, a very 

 good deer. On the morning of the same day I had 

 killed a fine old buck, but wasted to nothing, a small 

 rifle ballet having been lodged in his flank. I was 

 creeping among some very high furze used by the 

 browse bucks near the keeper's lodge, and all at once 

 came in sight of a fine old antler sticking upright 

 in the ororse. I knelt down to stare at it; it re- 

 mained perfectly still, and I felt sure that, if the 

 owner of it was alive, he was looking towards me, 

 in doubt if he had seen any motion in the gorse. 

 Patience and flies then for each of us. I knew, as 

 he got more convinced that he had seen nothing, 

 that, if he was alive, he would nod at the flies, 

 however slightly, and presently the horn did so. But 

 where was the other horn ? I wanted to see that 

 to enable me to guess his head, for at that distance, 

 with both horns in view to the brow antlers, I could 

 have done so. Thus we were for half an hour, the 

 horn and myself, the owner of the one still suspicious, 

 and myself fearing to move lest he should bolt ofi^. I 

 could see nothing of his body, but it was a beautiful 

 antler. Tired of suspense I ventured to raise myself 

 a little, with the rifle at my shoulder ; he saw the 

 motion, and raised his head to ascertain what caused 

 it, so much so that I saw the stump of the other 

 antler and the top of his forehead, through which I 



