288 TWO STAGS KILLED. 



when his blood gushed out in torrents. A man was left to 

 gralloch him. Lightfoot could not be torn away from the 

 dun beauty : the hill-man, as he gralloched the deer, and 

 drank the whiskey, swore there never was such a deer 

 seen in the forest; he grew larger and larger at every 

 quaigh-full, and there was no saying to what a portentous 

 size he might have arrived, had not the flask been fairly 

 drunk out. 



The rest of the party went slowly forward, till at length 

 they saw the other wounded hart lying in a bog. He was 

 extended, and kept his head as low as possible ; it was 

 apparent, then, that he was not only alive, but had his 

 senses about him. Tortoise crept cautiously up and sent a 

 ball through the back of his head as deadly a shot as can 

 be made. 



The smile of joy danced on every countenance, but 

 chiefly on thine, O Lightfoot; the warm current came 

 tingling through your veins; there was a buoyancy of 

 spirit and an air of success about you that proclaimed you, 

 to yourself at least, a king a hero a demigod ! Her- 

 cules was a pretty fellow; so was Theseus; so was 

 Pirithous; but, although they subdued various monsters, 

 they probably never killed so fine a stag in all their lives. 

 Happy, thrice happy mortal! happier far than Candide, 

 when he met Miss Cunegonde amongst the Turks, or (to 

 make a more apt comparison) than our own Phidias*, when 



* Who has not heard of Sir Francis Chantrey's skill with his gun 

 and his fishing-rod ? The above incident occurred at a great battue, 

 at Holkam ; and the whole party saluted Sir Francis on the occasion 

 with solemn deference, each individual passing before him in succession, 

 and making his obeisance. 



