CHAP, in.] MOUNTAIN SCENERY. 35 



rugged and barren foreground of rock and ravine, where no 

 living thing can find a resting-place save the eagle or raven. 



I remember a particular incident of that day's ptarmigan- 

 shooting; which, though it stopped our sport for some hours, 

 I would not on any account have missed seeing. Most of the 

 mist had cleared away, excepting a few cloud-like drifts, which 

 were passing along the sfep sides of the mountain. These, as 

 one by one they gradually came into the influence of the currents 

 of air, were whirled and tossed about, and then disappeared ; 

 lost to sight in the clear noonday atmosphere, as if evaporated 

 by wind and sun. 



One of these light clouds, which we were watching, was 

 suddenly caught in an eddy of wind, and, after being twisted into 

 strange fantastic shapes, was lifted up from the face of the moun- 

 tain like a curtain, leaving, in its place a magnificent stag, of a 

 size of body and stretch of antler rarely seen ; he was not above 

 three hundred yards from us, and standing in full relief between 

 us and the sky. After gazing around him, and looking like the 

 spirit of the mountain, he walked slowly on towards a ridge 

 which connected two shoulders of the mountain together. Fre- 

 quently he stopped, and scratched with his hoof at some lichen- 

 covered spot, feeding slowly (quite unconscious of danger) 

 on the moss which he separated from the stones. I drew my 

 shot, and put bullets into both barrels, and we followed him 

 cautiously, creeping through the winding hollows of the rocks, 

 sometimes advancing towards the stag, and at other times obliged 

 suddenly to throw ourselves flat on the face of the stony moun- 

 tain, to avoid his piercing gaze, as he turned frequently round to 

 see that no enemy was following in his track. 



He came at one time to a ridge from which he had a clear 

 view of a long stretch of the valley beneath. Here he halted to 

 look down either in search of his comrades or to see that all was 

 safe in that direction. I could see the tops of his horns as they 

 remained perfectly motionless for several minutes on the horizon. 

 We immediately made on for the place, crawling like worms 

 over the stones, regardless of bruises and oils. We were within 

 about eighty yards of the points of his horns; the rest of the 

 animal was invisible, being concealed by a mass of stone behind 

 which he was standing. I looked over my shoulder at Donald, 



D2 



