248 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CHAP. xxxn. 



while here and there we heard the clash of horns as two rival 

 stags met and fought a few rounds together. None, however, 

 seemed inclined to try their strength with the large hart who 

 had first appeared. The last time we saw him, in the gloom of 

 the evening, he was rolling in a small pool of water, w r ith 

 several of the hinds standing quietly round him, while the 

 smaller stags kept passing to and fro near the hinds, but afraid 

 to approach too close to their watchful rival, who was always 

 ready to jump up and dash at any of them who ventured within 

 a certain distance of his seraglio. " Donald," I whispered, " I 

 would not have lost this sight for a hundred pounds." " Deed, 

 no, its grand," said he. " In all my travels on the hill I never 

 saw the like." Indeed it is very seldom that chances combine 

 to enable a deer-stalker to quietly look on at such a strange 

 meeting of deer as we had witnessed that evening. But night 

 was coming on, and though the moon was clear and full, we did 

 not like to start off" for the shepherd's house, through the swamps 

 and swollen burns among which we should have had to pass, nor 

 did we forget that our road would be through the valley where 

 all this congregation of deer were. So after consulting, we 

 turned off to leeward to bivouac amongst the rocks at the back 

 of the hill, at a sufficient distance from the deer not to disturb 

 them by our necessary occupation of cooking the trout, which 

 our evening meal was to consist of. Having hunted out some 

 of the driest of the fir-roots which were in abundance near us, 

 we soon made a bright fire out of view of the deer, and after 

 eating some fish arid drying our clothes pretty well, we found a 

 snug corner in the rocks, where, wrapped up in our plaids and 

 covered with heather, we arranged ourselves to sleep. 



Several times during the night I got up and listened to the 

 wild bellowing of the deer : sometimes it sounded close to us, 

 and at other times far away. To an unaccustomed ear it might 

 easily have passed for the roaring of a host of much more dan- 

 gerous wild beasts, so loud and hollow did it sound. I awoke 

 in the morning cold and stiff, but soon put my blood into circu- 

 lation by running two or three times up and down a steep bit of 

 the hill. As for Donald, he shook himself, took a pinch of 

 snuff, and was all right. The sun was not yet above the horizon, 



