218 ADVENTURES IN THE NORTHERN SEAS. 



to the edge of the glacier. They were not much 

 alarmed, and had recommenced to feed, so I easily 

 got within shot of them again, and I disposed of 

 them also by a right and left shot. I opened these 

 two deer myself, as the sailors were on their way to 

 the boat. After having concluded this necessary 

 but slightly disagreeable operation, I sat down and 

 had a good look round with my glass. I soon had 

 the satisfaction of discovering two superb stags ly- 

 ing down on the opposite side of the glen. It now 

 began to snow very heavily, and under cover of it 

 I crossed the glen, not far from the stags, without 

 their seeing me. I got up to about a hundred 

 yards or so from them, behind a bank of mossy 

 earth, and shot one of them dead as he lay. The 

 other sprang to his feet on hearing the report, and 

 instantly shared a similar fate. 



My sailors came back while I was admiring these 

 two splendid stags as they lay bleeding on the 

 snow, and loud were Jack's expressions of wonder, 

 admiration, and delight at finding as many deer ly- 

 ing dead in the glen, after seven hours 1 stalking, as 

 had taken them all four weeks to kill. One of 

 these men — a fine young fellow, the very beau-ideal 

 of an English sailor — was an ex-man-of-war 's-man, 

 and had assisted in that deplorable business at Pe- 

 tropaulauski, and he seemed to think that if they 

 had had a few four-barreled rifles on that unhappy 

 occasion, the Roosians would not have had so much 

 the best of it ! 



