256 DAYS OF DEER-STALKING. 



" By heavens, he has turned them up our hill again, and 

 they are coming up the steeps at the old place ! Forward, 

 forward, run low, low ; we shall have them again to a 

 certainty." 



He did indeed have them with a witness, and came right 

 up with a string of them, running immediately below him 

 at an easy distance. Go which way they chose they could 

 not now escape him ; a vast hollow of the hill side lay 

 beneath, fully exposed to his view ; so he stood on the 

 commanding crags, without the slightest attempt at conceal- 

 ment, and fired two shots in rapid succession. One hart 

 fell dead on the spot, and another went away wounded. 



" Murder, murder ! O Lord, murder ! Haud yer han' ; 

 baud yer han' ; we canna tak' tent o' a' thae deer." . 



And Peter Eraser held the third rifle with a firm grip, 

 and refused to give it up. But a sharp tug or two, and a 

 sudden and unexpected twist from Tortoise, soon released 

 it from his grasp.* 



" Aweel, aweel ; baud to yon muckle deer then, awa to 

 the wast. There, there (pointing)" 



Down he dropped instantly to the rifle ; and away went 

 Tortoise after the wounded stag. A dog was properly 

 slipped, who ran a beautiful chase all down the steeps of 

 Ben-y-venie towards the river Mark. There the helpless 

 animal stood at bay, and received his death-shot. He fell 

 in a secluded spot, below some rocks and birch trees, where 

 he was gralloched and washed out; his head was turned 

 back on his shoulder, according to custom, and peats were 

 put upon it to keep his eyes from the great bird ; nor did 

 they neglect to tie the black flag on his horns, which, waving 

 in the night air, might scare away the raven, and baulk 

 him of his prey. 



The herd passed forward, and Tortoise held his glass to 

 them, but discontinued the pursuit, although they were 

 still before him in his cast. 



* The immediate attendant on the deerstalker holds the spare rifles, and 

 gives them one after the other to the sportsman, as he fires them in suc- 

 cession. The gunstocks got much battered in Tortoise's service, as he 

 generally flung down each rifle as soon as he had discharged it rock or 

 moss, it took its chance. 



