THE AMBUSCADE. 225 



and were soon descried from the glen, hanging on the sky- 

 line in long array. Those in the van, gaze steadily on all 

 sides, onward move the others in succession, their horns 

 and bodies looming large against the sky. Heavens ! 

 what a noble sight ; how beautiful, how picturesque ! 

 See how they wind down the crags, with slow, and 

 measured steps ; now hidden, and now re- appearing from 

 behind impending masses of rock ; now the prudent leader 

 halts his forces, and closes up his files ; those in advance 

 are scrutinizing the glen, whilst the rear-guard, wary and 

 circumspect, are watching the motions of the distant and 

 persevering drivers. As the men come forward in a vast 

 semicircle, the herd begin to mend their pace, calves, 

 hinds, and harts, come belling along, and wind down the 

 oblique paths of the steep, putting in motion innumerable 

 loose stones, that fall clattering over the crags. 



The glen wore the appearance of utter solitude ; but 

 the sportsmen were lying in ambush in various parts of it, 

 under the impending banks of the Tilt, behind fragments 

 of rock, or in some cleft or position which screened them 

 from the gaze of the deer. 



And now how many bosoms were throbbing at this 

 splendid spectacle, and what fitful changes from hope to 

 despair agitated individual sportsmen, as the herd ap- 

 proached or deviated from their particular position ! 



Beset upon their flanks and upon their rear, and seeing 

 no obstruction in the wild forest before them, after long 

 and deep misgivings, they take their desperate resolution ; 

 down they sweep in gallant array, dash furiously across 

 the meadow, and plunge right into the flashing waters of 

 the Tilt. Hark how their hoofs clatter on its stony 



Q 



