DEER ALARMED. 241 



The ground for which we were making I had only 

 visited once before ; but I recollected sufficiently about 

 it to know that on a day still as the one before us we 

 should find stalking very difficult. Accordingly, that 

 no overhaste of ours might disturb the game, we called 

 at the cottage of a shepherd, whose beat took him 

 frequently over the locality to which we were going, in 

 order to learn from him the likely whereabouts of the 

 deer. The shepherd himself we found just about to start 

 for a neighbouring glen, where he had a flock of sheep 

 to visit, and his course to which lay across some of the 

 scene of our intended operations ; so, having gathered 

 from him what information we could, we gave him in 

 return strict injunctions to be careful in keeping to our 

 rear, so as not to disturb any ground we might traverse; 

 and again we got under weigh. Our line lay up a very 

 steep and rugged brae, running off to the south at the 

 back of the shepherd's shieling, and fringed at its 

 summit by very precipitous crags. An hour or more 

 of stiff walking brought us to the foot of these rocks, 

 and we began winding up a narrow and difficult path, 

 which led out at the top to the high ground, lying just 

 beyond, in which we hoped to find the deer. 



Just as we reached the very edge of the rock, one 

 of the shepherd's lads, who had attended us as gilly, 

 incautiously raised his head, without waiting till he 

 had scanned the foreground, and immediately warned 

 us that there were deer within a few yards. Gillespie, 

 inch by inch, advanced to obtain a view, but the boy's 

 hastiness had alarmed them, and they were already 

 out of reach of anything but a random shot, which 

 was not advisable so early in the day, when more 

 sport was yet to be hoped for. 



For a few moments we watched the deer, until they 

 turned down a ravine to the right, and then resumed 



