84 NEWFOUNDLAND 



till within 400 yards of the beast. A momentary glimpse 

 showed him to be still feeding, so I went on slowly in a 

 crouching attitude till within 300 yards. Here I found it 

 necessary to crawl for about 200 yards, and getting a large 

 rock between myself and the deer found on peeping round 

 the edge of a stone that I was within 90 yards. There 

 was evidently no hurry, so I sat down and enjoyed my first 

 view of one of the grandest beasts in existence feeding 

 unconcernedly at a short distance. 



During five minutes he only once raised his head, and 

 then only to take a stupid and sleepy survey of his sur- 

 roundings as the wet moss dropped out of the sides of his 

 mouth. How splendid his long shovels and bays looked 

 as he assumed a dignified attitude against the yellow sunset ! 

 But I could not leave him longer as the light was going 

 fast, so getting a good sitting position against the rock, I 

 put the white foresight on his heart and fired. Looking up, 

 to my surprise I saw that the stag had never moved except 

 to raise his head, and thinking that I must have missed, I 

 fired again at once and saw four great feet kicking in the air. 



He was dead as soon as I got up. Certainly not one of 

 the best, but nevertheless as I afterwards learned, he carried 

 a good head. The horns were still in the velvet, and the 

 beast had evidently just come out for a quiet snack in an 

 undisturbed place. He gave me the idea of an old animal 

 going back slightly, as his tops were not up to the mark. 



The usual rejoicings over the first trophy may be passed 

 over, and seeing that the does (which always move a good 

 fortnight before the stags) were only just beginning to travel, 

 I knew it would not do to be too sanguine about getting 

 another stag for some time. We were in for a long wait, 

 especially as the glorious weather which we had experienced 



