THE OLD BUCK. 299 



rabbit the prey will become so fascinated as to be help- 

 less for escape, but awaits the monster's approach, and 

 even walks into his jaws. The influence, it is true, is not 

 quite the same in both cases ; for in the hunter this want 

 of power to execute his will does not arise from fear but 

 is probably merely an intense anxiety not to miss the 

 mark, — a violent struggle between suddenly aroused emo- 

 tions. In time the " fever " wears off; yet occasionally, 

 though you flatter yourself you are grown stoically calm, 

 and that an old sportsman like you is not to be disturbed 

 by such freaks and fancies, — occasionally, I say, if you 

 are kept long in suspense, you too will get the " fever •" 

 — you will feel it laying hold of you in spite of all your 

 efforts to shake it off.* 



I do not remember any allusion to this extreme state 

 by English sportsmen. They acknowledge being " ner- 

 vous;" nothing however transpires of chattering of teeth, 

 of gasping for breath, or of violent tremblings throughout 

 the whole body ; yet I do not doubt that the presence 

 of the red -deer of Scotland may have the same potent 

 charm as that of his German compeer ; and I am quite 

 sure, if it ever were my good-fortune to get a day's stalk- 

 ing in the Highlands, that such a sight as Sir Edwin 

 Landseer has shown us in his "Drive" would set my 

 heart beating exactly as of old. 



It was now three o'clock, and we turned our steps 

 downwards ; but still, not to give up a chance, we deter- 

 mined to have a look into a deep ravine that yawned like 

 a terrific gash in the mountain's side. It extended al- 

 most to the very summit, — jagged, deep, and frightful. 



* I know a forester who has never been able to get over it. T once 

 saw him when we were out together after a stag. "lie's coming! he's 

 coming!" he stammered, as he caught sight of antlers between the trees, 

 and his eyes stared, and he trembled ae though it had been a ghost. 



