IN TIMBER AND BRtlLEE. 253 



twelve, the hunter gains nothing by tracking them but 

 a good appetite and an extended knowledge of the 

 country. 



Next day we at first hunted separately, and Ed 

 saw, but did not shoot at, a young stag of nineteen or 

 twenty points, while I had to be content with watching 

 a small herd of nine does. About three in the after- 

 noon, however, having once more joined forces, we were 

 shivering in the lee of a rock upon the Second Look- 

 out, when a stag appeared, moving through the bruke 

 at a distance of about a mile and a half. A transient 

 gleam of sunshine showed up his horns, and after 

 making a detour to clear the wind, we set about the 

 business of the stalk. The country in which we had 

 seen him was tolerably thick, that is, one might pass 

 within fifty yards of a stag and remain quite unaware 

 of his presence. As we had a long round to make, 

 we were lucky to see anything of him again, and in 

 all probability should not have done so had he not 

 been accompanied by three does and two fawns, one 

 of which gave us the line just as we were on the 

 point of getting to windward of them. As it was, 

 a doe with her fawn became alarmed, and made off, 

 followed by the rest. The stag, however, happened to 

 have wandered some two hundred yards away from the 

 herd, which just enabled me to run across, cut him off', 

 and fire a bullet which broke his shoulder. He carried 

 a nice even head of twenty-five points, and had a very 

 rare merit in the mainland stags two moderately 

 developed brow-antlers. 



After the death of this stag good fortune seemed to 

 desert us, for hunt as we would, either together or singly, 

 neither of us came upon a shootable beast. But a second 



