94 HUNTING CAMPS. 



lying afforded excellent protection from view I managed 

 to get extraordinarily close. We were within certainly 

 fifty yards of him before he began to grow at all sus- 

 picious, and perhaps not more than forty before he got up. 

 His tops were still the only part of him visible, but it 

 was quite clear that if he happened to make off up-wind 

 there would be no chance of a shot. On the other hand, 

 if I fired at once, I should merely have to choose the 

 thinnest part of the twigs and branches that concealed 

 him and fire through them. Accordingly I fixed on 

 the clearest spot I could see, and fired. At the shot he 

 bolted out on the north side of the thicket just like a 

 gigantic rabbit, and tumbled head over heels to a second 

 bullet in the neck. 



He turned out to be a heavy and large-bodied stag. 

 His head carried twenty-five points, but was much 

 knocked about by his love battles, several points having 

 been broken off his horns. This is the case with so 

 many stags in the October season that it is often diffi- 

 cult to secure an absolutely perfect head at that time of 

 year. Had this particular animal been shot early in 

 September, his would have been a very good trophy ; 

 still, I was pleased enough to have secured a fair stag 

 so early. We left him to lie while we returned to camp 

 to finish the meal of tea and hard biscuit his presence 

 had interrupted. 



Later Jack Wells and I went back to take off the 

 head and head-skin, while the other men made up their 

 packs and started to walk over the marsh to Beaver 

 Pond, where we meant to camp for the night. 



The following dawn was dull and grey, a heavy mist 

 hung over the face of the marshes, so that it was diffi- 

 cult to see two hundred yards, and impossible to see 



