HUNTING ON THE UPPER GANDER 117 



wait a quarter of an hour before Saunders came, and a ferry 

 over became possible. Then telling the men to wait and not 

 to make a sound, I climbed the bank, took off my boots, 

 and crept into the dense timber. 



At the very spot from whence the sounds had proceeded 

 was the fresh track of old Curly Toe. He had trodden on 

 a piece of rotten pine, the evidence of which was designated 

 in scattered chips. I advanced as quickly as possible, fearful 

 almost of placing my feet on the ground, for the stag was 

 nearly certain to be within a hundred yards of me in that 

 " droke " of spruce and alder. The track was easy to follow, 

 and I made it out for three or four hundred yards going 

 hillwards. Then I made a cast back, and stumbled on the 

 home of the stag, scores of beds beaten hard and dry, with 

 piles of old and fresh manure all around. There was one 

 bed full of hairs that looked as if the stag had just sprung 

 from it, and had been scared, for several pebbles of wet 

 dung lay therein, often the sure sign of deer suddenly scared. 

 I was looking at this, stooping down, when my ear caught 

 the tinkle of stones being moved, followed by a subdued 

 splash. My men I knew were too well trained to create this 

 disturbance, so guessing its cause I rushed belter - skelter 

 through the opposing stems towards the river. As I burst 

 through the last alders I saw the stag looking about, very 

 frightened, and standing up to his knees in the river about 

 a hundred yards away. To fall into a sitting position was 

 the work of an instant — good tops and thick horns at once 

 decided that — and as the deer swung round to go I fired. 

 The bullet took him about five inches too far back. Then off 

 he went, full gallop, clattering up the shallows of the river, 

 and sending the spray flying in all directions. I had a better 

 shooting position than such a hurried seat usually offers, and 



