FOLLOWING THE GAME WITHOUT SUCCESS. 121 



the line, suddenly came to a halt ; my ears were 

 greeted with a grunt and something suspiciously like a 

 Gaelic oath, and following the direction of his eyes, 

 I immediately saw the cause of his discomposure. 

 There, at the distance of two hundred yards, were the 

 three deer for which we had been looking, leisurely 

 trotting away from us. They paused on reaching the 

 crest of the ravine down which they were about to 

 plunge, turned round for one moment to look at us, and 

 then, flinging a parting challenge to us, as they spurred 

 up the ground with their hoofs, disappeared in an 

 instant from our sight. They were a noble hart, a 

 young stag, and a hiud ; and as they stood on the 

 horizon, thrown out in bold relief into the sky, a more 

 beautiful group it would be difficult to conceive. 



As we followed slowly in their track, picking our 

 way carefully down the almost precipitous descent, we 

 observed a stag and two hinds feeding on the opposite 

 side of the valley, in a position apparently very 

 difficult to approach, without attracting their attention. 

 We lingered for some time, hoping that they might 

 feed their way into more favourable ground; but 

 presently the three ; which we had so lately disturbed, 

 were seen winding their way up to them, having crossed 

 the valley below ; and the whole six, shortly joining 

 company, went off together. 



Thus terminated the series of this day's disappoint- 

 ments. The shades of evening were coming on apace ; 

 the ground was too rugged to be either safe or 

 pleasant for a night march ; and as we were still 

 distant some seven miles from the cottage, no time 

 was to be lost. Glad then were we, after nearly two 

 hours of hard climbing, toiling, and running, to hear 

 our welcome from the cheerful housewife, to divest 

 ourselves of our wet toggery, and to seat ourselves 



