DIFFICULT DESCENT. 85 



for as the herd had never seen him or any of his party, he 

 judged they would remain for some time at least on the 

 round swell of the hill below, which they were now 

 approaching. 



This continued exertion was a severe draught upon the 

 vigour of the party ; deplored by all, but by none more 

 deeply than by the newly initiated sportsman ; in fact, he 

 was wholly unequal to it, his limbs faltered, his knees 

 trembled, and his breath came short and loud, till, quite 

 exhausted, he lay down on the moor a solitary and forsaken 

 man, while his inhuman companions persisted in their 

 course. His spirit, however, was unbroken ; for as soon as 

 his wind was a little recruited, he got up and followed in 

 the line. 



And now Tortoise and Peter Fraser had reached the crags 

 on the opposite side of the hill, towards the west. Here 

 was an absolute precipice, and large angular stones were 

 lying down it, with their edges uppermost. Happy was 

 the foot that did not slide down upon their sharp ridges, 

 and charmed was the leg that was not either cut or broken 

 by them. The two practised hill-men, nothing dizzy, picked 

 up their legs like cats, and went down pretty fast ; having^ 

 once begun the descent, indeed, it was not very easy to stop, 

 so headlong was the steep. 



And here I am sorry to be obliged to relate a circum- 

 stance that, for the sake of their credit, I would gladly have 

 concealed, namely, that, from the time of their first rapid 

 start, they never once took care of their companion, and, 

 indeed, had as completely forgotten him as if he had never 

 been of their party ; so absorbed had they been in stalking, 

 and so absolutely necessary was it for them to act precisely 

 as they had done, or to throw away a capital chance. 



The struggle now was to get under the hill, on the side 

 opposite to that part which the deer were crossing, so as to 

 arrive there in time to take them as they passed down over 

 the boll of it, still preserving the wind. Arrived at length 

 at this desired spot, breathless, flushed, and covered with 

 perspiration, they crept forward and wormed themselves 

 through the heather, till, from behind a small knoll, they 

 saw the deer feeding forward very leisurely, but still restless, 



