28 A FALSE STALK. 



a red-coloured object, apparently lying beneath a ledge 

 of rocks. Walter also succeeded in bringing his glass 

 to bear upon it ; but at so great a distance was it that 

 we could do no more than make out that it certainly 

 moved. 



While straining our aching optics upon this object, 

 until fancy caused it to dilate and assume forms 

 innumerable, it suddenly disappeared behind a rock 

 beneath which it had been previously lying, and we 

 saw it no more. There was no time now to be wasted. 

 Whatever it might be, we could lose but little by fol- 

 lowing it up; and, should it prove to be a deer, we 

 might yet be fully rewarded. Accordingly, we set off 

 at a brisk pace, keeping a most careful look-out, but 

 arrived within a couple of hundred yards of the rock 

 without seeing anything more. We now began to pro- 

 ceed very cautiously, at times even creeping on our 

 knees ; and at length we reached the rock itself, crept 

 round the end of it and still nothing was visible. 

 After a moment's survey, Walter detected the red 

 object again, lying down as before, but still in so indis- 

 tinct a position that nothing could we make of it. 

 Again, therefore, we began cautiously to creep on our 

 hands and knees ; when suddenly I was startled by a 

 loud hearty laugh proceeding from Walter, and -on 

 looking before me, instead of a deer, saw a fine red fox 

 bounding away over the heather bearing off a grouse in 

 his jaws. 



Walter fired, but Keynard's life seemed charmed, 

 and the ball flattened on a rock close by him. I then 

 brought my rifle to my shoulder, and, taking a very 

 deliberate aim, by good fortune doubled him up. We 

 were tempted to slay him, not only in revenge for the 

 disappointment he had caused us, but from the accounts 



