174 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CHAP. xxi. 



was hopeless, and that we had better make our way home and 

 attempt no more, as they were feeding in so open a place that it 

 was impossible to get at them : even Bran yawned and rose, as 

 if he too had given up all hope. " I will have one try, Donald ; 

 so hold the dog." " You need na fash yoursel, Sir ; they are 

 clean out of all hope and reason." I determined to make an 

 effort before it became dusk ; so leaving Donald, I set off down 

 the burn, looking for some hollow place that might favour my 

 getting up to them, but I could find none : at last it struck me 

 that I might by chance get up within a long shot by keeping a 

 small hillock, which was in the middle of the plain, between me 

 and the deer. The hillock was not two feet high, and all de- 

 pended on the animals keeping together and not outflanking me. 

 On I went, not on my hands and knees, but crawling like a 

 snake, and never rising even to my knee. I could see their 

 hind-quarters as they walked away, feeding, however, most 

 eagerly, and when they looked up I lay still flatter on the 

 ground with my face buried in the heather. They appeared, 

 however, not to suspect danger in the open plain, but often 

 looked anxiously towards the burn or the rocky side of the 

 mountain. One old long-legged hind kept me in a constant 

 state of alarm, as she frequently looked in my direction, turning 

 her ears as if to catch some suspicious sound. As for the stag, 

 he never looked about him once, leaving that to the hinds. I 

 at last got within about a hundred yards of the whole of them : 

 as they fed in a group turned away from me, I could not get a 

 shot at anything but their hind-quarters, and 1 did not wish to 

 shoot unless I could get a fair broadside towa;;!s me. While 

 waiting for an opportunity, still flat on the ground, a grouse 

 cock walked out of the heather close to me, and strutted on 

 with head erect and his bright eye fixed on me till he came to a 

 little hillock, where he stopped and began to utter a note of 

 alarm. Instantly every deer left off eating. I saw that no time 

 was to be lost and raised myself on my elbow, and with cocked 

 rifle waited for the hinds to move, that I might get at the stag, 

 who was in the midst of them. The hinds soon saw me and 

 began to trot away, but their leader seemed determined to see 

 what the danger was, and before he started turned round to look 

 towards the spot where the grouse was, giving me a good slant- 



