LIGHTFOOT IN TKOUBLE. 85 



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 co- 

 vered 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, and with their sentinels looking back 

 towards the east. And now the heat of the manrcuvre 

 being ended, they began once more to think of Lightfoot ; 

 and Tortoise, putting his mouth close to Peter Fraser's 

 ear, as he lay on the ground beside him, desired him in 

 a low whisper, to beckon him alongside of them. " Here 

 is a glorious chance ! " said he, " and I would not have 

 him lose it on any account. 



" And it's mair the pity he's no here to tak the chance ; 

 but I have been speering aboot, and canna light on him. 

 Sure as deith, then, but I see him the noo ! a' that's him, 



G 3 



