DEER-STALKING 69 



half-waterlogged boat. On every loch at Brae- 

 more the boats are suspended above the water 

 in their houses by an easy arrangement of blocks 

 and pulleys which a child could manage without 

 difficulty. The stalk began soon after we had 

 landed on the other side. The ground was rather 

 flat, and we had to crawl a good deal, and we 

 were delayed more than once by the watchfulness 

 of the sentinel hinds, which raised their heads 

 and stared in one direction, as if they thought 

 there was something amiss, while we, like St. 

 Hilda's fossils, changed for the moment from 

 serpents into stones, and breathed a supplication 

 that we might escape notice. At last we reached 

 a spot where there was no chance of their seeing 

 us, and for a short five minutes I enjoyed the 

 bliss of straightening my back and legs. A 

 crouch and crawl, which could not have lasted a 

 quarter of an hour, although it seemed an age, 

 brought me to a heathery knoll, close under 

 which I believed my stag to be lying ; and my 

 belief was changed to a certainty when I saw 

 McHardy take the rifle out of its cover, insert 

 a cartridge, and, beckoning to me to follow, 

 worm himself very slowly and cautiously up 

 the little eminence. My heart thumped audibly 

 as I came in sight of the stag lying down broad- 

 side within ninety yards of me with his head 

 up, and after a whispered colloquy I was allowed 

 to shoot at him as he was. A shot, a bound, 



