SIGHTING THE DEER. 207 



Highland pony, and with rifles slung across our backs, 

 started over the moors to the spot where Hector was to 

 be awaiting us; Jock being sent on in front to bring the 

 ponies home again. 



We were not long in joining the shepherd, our 

 ponies having brought us to the top of the very ridge 

 of hills, at the further end of which the deer were to be 

 expected. They were supposed to be the herd which 

 we had seen on our last expedition, then feeding out of 

 the glen to our left, and which we had on that occasion 

 left unmolested. The rugged hollows at the further 

 end of this range of hills were said to be their daily 

 haunt, and by the time we had gained that part of 

 the ground, for it was still at a considerable distance, 

 Hector assured us they would be all feeding in some 

 one of the localities where he had frequently seen them 

 of late. And now, our rifles loaded, we started. After 

 two hours' hard walking over a long stretch of ground, 

 unpleasantly redundant in peat bogs, and wending our 

 way by the stony shore of many a mountain tarn, in 

 which magnificent trout of several pounds' weight may 

 be caught in the early spring, we began to approach the 

 scene of the day's operations. We paused on the 

 banks of a querulous burn, and while washing my 

 mouth with the pure water dancing past our feet, I 

 handed my telescope to the shepherd. Before I had 

 returned to his side, Hector's quick sight had dis- 

 covered the object of our search, he was "just seeing 

 the deer ; " they were on the point of entering a small 

 valley, about to rest, as he assured us, under the shadow 

 of some cliffs which overhung it at the further end. 

 We were now almost to windward of them, and our 

 plan was to make for this group of overhanging cliffs, 

 and there wait an opportunity for singling out a good 

 head. The first step, however, was to get out of the 



