LEAVES FROM A GAME BOOK. 217 



alone, others in twos and threes, and again goodly 

 herds, so that it now became not so much a matter 

 of picking out a shootable beast as a question of 

 selecting the fattest that was stalkable, for I must 

 remind my readers this was but the 26th of August, 

 and for this reason many more than half the stags in 

 sight still bore velvet. There were, however, a good 

 few quite clean horns, while upward of a dozen could 

 be seen with antlers already burnished and getting 

 dark. Almost as Elliot asked me to turn my glass on 

 to "yon bonnie beast" to see if he should not be the 

 one for which we should have a try, I was anxiously 

 inspecting a yet bonnier specimen lying by himself a 

 long way in front of us. Pointing him out, there 

 ensued a discussion as to whether it would be possible 

 to get to him without moving many other deer, or 

 indeed alarming the whole corrie. It being eventually 

 determined to go for Elliot's find, half an hour later, 

 after a short piece of very dirty crawling, we found our- 

 selves but only fifty yards ofi" the bonnie one. This was 

 a deal too near to make me happy, for I dislike these 



