TO THE SHOE HILL COUNTRY 255 



grey, but we hoped it would clear up, so started 

 away over the ridge to the south-west. On 

 topping the ridge, we looked down on a great 

 marshy plain with a few scattered drokes. 

 Nothing was in sight, so we walked quietly on 

 towards one of the drokes, from behind which 

 suddenly burst out five hinds pursued by what 

 looked like a good stag, who was grunting as he 

 followed the hinds — the first rutting stag we had 

 seen. They paid so little attention to us that 

 they were almost on top of us before they saw 

 us. Unfortunately, the head was poor, as 

 he gave an easy shot. Almost immediately 

 after two herds of hinds passed us, while in 

 the distance two more stags were seen feeding 

 about three miles away. We went on towards 

 them, when the rain set in and we had to find 

 shelter for lunch. There was no sign of the 

 weather clearing and stalking was impossible 

 in the heavy rain and mist, so we plodded 

 wearily back to camp, which we reached 

 after dark, wet to the skin. This valley was 

 full of grouse; we saw seven good coveys and 

 I shot three birds for the pot with the small 

 rifle. 



The rain continued all night, but stopped 

 about 7 a.m. on the morning of the 21st. 



We had come up to Shoe Hill Ridge on the 

 15th in heavy rain. It had rained on the 18th 



