118 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



ing, enabled them to get within about eighty yards, 

 when Duncan counselled opening fire. He had, poor 

 old beggar, by this time mentally bagged the whole 

 covey ! The sportsman took aim and pulled ; but 

 beyond letting the deer know that he was in the 

 neighbourhood, nothing particular followed. The 

 second shot had a like result. A horrible suspicion 

 now flashed across Duncan, even as it did across 

 Cameron of "The Standard" on the Majuba Hill, 

 that " the day might yet be lost," and creeping close 

 up to the sportsman he whispered, "Take plenty of 

 time, sir, and fire low," excellent advice, whether 

 you're firing at man or beast. It was followed, too 

 for the third shot or fourth, I'm not sure which, hit 

 a stag about the shins, but (that part not being in the 

 red-deer, as in the negro, the most vulnerable) didn't 

 bring him down. How many shots were fired I am 

 not prepared to state, but the grand total of this battue 

 was one stag wounded. Patience in the lower animals, 

 as in ourselves, has its limits, and the deer feeling no 

 doubt they had given the sportsman chances enough, 

 prepared to bolt. Lowering their heads, and led by 

 a fine old ten-pointer, they ran the gauntlet, rushed 

 along the fence, and were off, wounded one and all, a 

 parting shot at about twenty yards' rise being fired 

 over their backs to speed them on their way. This 

 story is almost incredible, but it is a fact, and "facts 

 are stubborn things." I had it from Duncan himself ; 

 and if ever you wish to see a despondent man, or a 



