REMINISCENCES OF A ROSS-SHIRE FOREST. 109 



up the hill-face? follow that to the top, then aboot 

 thirty yairds to the left you'll see three or four big 

 rocks, and below them a patch o' heather : the stag is 

 lying in the middle o' the heather, sir ; you can see 

 his head quite plain." 



Determined now to find him, you take a long look. 

 " By jingo, Donald, I've got him ; he's a grand one 

 I can see nine points at least." 



To which Donald, closing his glass and beginning 

 to fill his pipe with great deliberation, will possibly 

 reply very slowly, they speak slowly, and never use 

 superlatives, " Well, sir, he's a very fair beast, and 

 he's not in a very bad place whatever." 



Yes, to use the glass effectively requires great 

 patience and constant practice. Then, again, at first 

 I didn't believe in the gillies, or "stalkers," as the 

 Southron is pleased now to term them. I thought 

 the precautions they took were ridiculous, and that I 

 was being humbugged a thought repulsive to the 

 mind of a true-born Briton. I wanted to "go for" 

 the prey in a less roundabout manner, somewhat in 

 the fashion of a French nobleman, who, on being 

 shown by his host, a well-known Highland chief, a 

 large herd of deer in the plain below, pulled himself 

 together, looked to his "priming," and exclaimed, 

 "Eh bien, attaquons ! " He proposed, risk or no 

 risk, to descend and advance on them in line, even as 

 the Highlanders with Harnley and Alison at their 

 head advanced on the foe at Tel-el-Kebir. But a 



