64 THE THIKD DAY*S SEARCH. 



fully followed, until they led to a burn ; but here, though 

 he followed the banks for some distance both up and 

 down the stream, not a vestige could he discover. 

 The stag must have continued its course over some 

 hard stones, thus leaving no clue to its movements. 

 Eob was completely puzzled ; the only chance seemed 

 to be in roaming about the ground, and examining 

 carefully in every direction. But, conscious of the 

 unlawfulness of his proceedings, he could not do this 

 in open daylight with the cool attention he wished. 

 His conscience troubled him. Having escaped detec- 

 tion two days, he thought the chances were against 

 equal good fortune on the third. Fancy made him 

 start again and again, at the imaginary voices and 

 appearance of foresters. Each tuft of heather that 

 fluttered in the wind seemed a forester's bonnet ; each 

 waving fern a forester's plaid. And so the day wore 

 on; evening approached, and Eob began to despair. 

 He now sat down on a knoll, rising from the bank of a 

 burn that fretted and chafed its winding way to the 

 loch below, and here he racked his brain to think what 

 could have become of the prize so nearly won, so 

 strangely lost. 



Occupied with these reflections, he was somewhat 

 startled on detecting a something moving in the burn 

 about two hundred yards below him. The oft-reviving 

 image of the forester at once recurred to his mind. 

 Can he be watched ? Has he been the object of 

 observation the whole morning through ? No, " it is 

 the stag, ' mile diabholan !' 'tis the stag," slaking his 

 feverish thirst, and easing his burning tongue in the 

 cool waters of the burn. An exclamation of delight 

 burst from his lips, and in a moment Eob is flat on the 

 heather, and sliding down the side of the knoll. Cau- 



