66 DAYS OF DEER-STALKING. 



" Hush ! hush ! he has not seen us yet ; and yonder is 

 my mark. The deer lies opposite it to the south : he is 

 almost within gunshot even now." 



A sign was given to Peter Fraser to come alongside, for 

 they were arrived at the spot from which it was necessary 

 to diverge into the moss. In breathless expectation they 

 now turned to the eastward, and crept forward through the 

 bog, to enable them to come in upon the flank of the hart, 

 who was lying with his head up wind, and would thus 

 present his broadside to the rifle when he started ; whereas, 

 if they had gone in straight behind him, his haunches would 

 have been the only mark, and the shot would have been a 

 a disgraceful one. Now came the anxious moment. Every 

 thing hitherto had succeeded ; much valuable time had 

 been spent ; they had gone forward in every possible posi- 

 tion ; their hands and knees buried in bogs, wreathing on 

 their stomachs through the mire, or wading up the burns ; 

 and all this one brief moment might render futile, either 

 by means of a single throb of the pulse in the act of 

 firing, or a sudden rush of the deer, which would take him 

 instantly out of sight. Tortoise raised his head slowly, 

 slowly, but saw not the quarry. By degrees he looked an 

 inch higher, when Peter plucked him suddenly by the arm, 

 and pointed. The tops of his horns alone were to be seen 

 above the hole in the bog ; no more. Fraser looked anxious, 

 for well he knew that the first spring would take the deer 

 out of sight. A moment's pause, when the sportsman held 

 up his rifle steadily above the position of the hart's body ; 

 then, making a slight ticking noise, up sprang the deer ; as 

 instantly the shot was fired, and crack went the ball right 

 against his ribs, as he was making his rush. Sandy now 

 ran forward with the dogs, but still as well concealed by the 

 ground as he could manage. . 



" By heavens he is off, and you have missed him ; and 

 here am I, wet, tarred, and feathered, and all for nothing ; 

 and I suppose you call this sport. If you had killed that 

 magnificent animal, I should have rejoiced in my plight ; 

 but to miss such a great beast as that ! Here, Peter, come 

 and squeeze my clothes, and lay me out in the sun to dry. 

 I never saw so base a shot." 



