DEER-STALKISG. 173 



where an ice-cold stream issues from the snow- 

 field. The old hunter now commences, and I 

 superintend the gralloch, while Ole casts about for 

 any moss or juniper roots which may possibly be 

 found dry enough to burn. This is at last suffi- 

 ciently collected, and slices of the liver, skewered 

 on a stick, are presented to the very first flames 

 which we succeed in producing. Very difficult 

 indeed do we find it to wait till they are even 

 " underdone." The " savoury smell " is too ex- 

 asperating to our pinched and neglected interiors, 

 as each morsel crackles and sputters on the spit. 

 Talk of self-denial ! Here we did exercise it with 

 a vengeance, for, horrible as it may be to say it, I 

 was quite prepared — and if I had been alone should 

 possibly have done so — to have " gone in " for the 

 very first slice of liver blood-raw. Let any one who 

 turns with disgust from this confession first try the 

 experiment of living for thirty consecutive hours, with 

 a considerable amount of hard work in the keenest 

 mountain air without food, before they condemn me. 



