110 THE DEER IN SIGHT. 



but his stolid expression, so characteristic of the Scot, 

 furnished no clue to the workings of the mind within. 

 I fancied, however, after a time, that his eye seemed 

 to linger, and turn more especially to one spot, but 

 nothing like a smile of satisfaction was to be detected. 

 At length, on my putting the question to him, he 

 replied that he " was seeing the deer," but that they 

 were " unco " hard to get at, and that no calculation 

 as to wind could possibly be made with any certainty 

 while it was blowing in such fitful and fickle gusts. 

 There was no help for it, therefore, but to look to the 

 general scud of the wind, and to act accordingly, 

 leaving the issue to the chapter of accidents. The 

 deer were feeding at the distance of nearly two miles, 

 separated from us by a deep glen, and at an elevation 

 slightly higher than our own ; but as they were 

 working upwards, before we could get over the ground 

 they would doubtless be considerably higher. Our 

 plan therefore was to take a wide circuit, and make 

 for the shelter of some cliffs a few hundred feet above 

 them, in the hopes that they would gradually feed up, 

 and pass near our position. 



Having strengthened ourselves with a " nip " of 

 usquebagh, away we went in a silent string, now 

 running recklessly " over bank, bush, and scaur," now 

 stooping, and even creeping, as we passed an exposed 

 spot ; and ever and anon pausing, while Gillespie took 

 a cautious survey, lest we should disturb anything in 

 our course, and perhaps through heedlessness lose a 

 better chance than the one on which we were now 

 bent. 



After mounting a steep brae, we suddenly came 

 upon a stag and two hinds, lying in a sheltered hollow. 

 They had winded us, however, and rose from their beds 



