256 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN 



their heads down, and at last all three couched in the lairs to 

 which Hall had alluded. When they lay down they were per- 

 haps a hundred and fifty yards away from us, and nothing but 

 their antlers to be seen. From the position they took there was 

 nothing to screen us ; but, after consulting for a little while, we 

 deemed it possible to reach some low fern and an oak tree twenty 

 yards nearer to the deer. On we sprawled on our breasts or 

 backs, as the position served ; but by the time we reached the 

 oak one of the browse deer rose, and stood gazing around him. 

 We had therefore to wait till he lay down again, and to make 

 up our minds as to the next move. Could we but get about ten 

 yards farther we should have more fern and a better line of 

 trees : so, when the browse deer resought his lair, we moved, and 

 gained the next oak. I was now in good distance for a body- 

 shot, but the buck I wanted lay still, so still, that Hall proposed 

 a farther advance. We crept again, and at last reached a large 

 oak, within fifty yards of the deer. The stranger lay with his 

 back to me, but his neck and the poll of his head were fair, and 

 I proposed to shoot ; but Hall, who was most anxious to get 

 this buck, begged me not to risk a shot only at his constantly 

 moving head, but to wait until he rose. In this instance I had 

 a rest against the oak tree ; and I was aiming at his head, though 

 not quite determined to shoot, when up he stood broadside to 

 me, and stretched himself. A moment so fair for a vital blow 

 was of course not lost. I fired, and the buck fell with a ball 

 through the region of the heart. 



On another day on which I was out with Joseph Hall, a 

 woodcutter reported three bucks at feed not far from us. We 

 accordingly went in that direction, and discovered them feeding 

 towards us. We couched in the long heather, and they came 

 on directly to where we were ; two were bare bucks, but the 

 third was a decent deer. After watching them some time they 

 came within shot ; but the younger deer were always in danger 

 till the buck I wanted was within fifty yards. I whispered to 

 Hall, " Your shoulder," a demand he well understood, when I 

 rested my rifle over it, and aimed at the deer ; but, a piece of 



