266 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CHAP, xxxiv. 



to open the deer, and dispose of the body, ready to be carried off 

 the next day. This done we sat down, talked over the run, and 

 consulted as to our proceedings for the rest of the day ; and as it 

 was still early, we agreed to try some more ground, in the con- 

 trary direction to that in which the hinds had gone, and, if kept 

 out late, to sleep at a shepherd's house some distance up in the 

 hills. 



We searched many a corrie and glen in vain, till towards even- 

 ing, Donald, who had been examining the rushy ground that 

 fringed the sides of a considerable mountain stream, in hopes of 

 seeing some deer at feed, suddenly shut up the telescope, and as 

 he deliberately wiped the glasses, and placed it in its case, said, 

 without looking up, " I'm seeing a fine stag down yonder, Sir." 

 Then having taken a long pinch of snuff, added, " He is just 

 the beast that the shepherd up there was telling me of last 

 Sabbath " Sunday being the day on which Donald invariably 

 heard all the hill news. 



The evening was coming on, so having no time to lose, and a 

 considerable retrograde movement to make before we could ap- 

 proach the stag with any hope of success, off we set at once, and 

 we had a quick and difficult march of it for nearly half an hour 

 before we got into the burn, up the course of which we proposed 

 to keep, as it led straight to the deer. The banks, however, were 

 not so high as those of the former stream, and the water ran over 

 loose round stones, which made our task much more difficult. 



"We were within five hundred yards, and had got over the worst 

 of our ground, when, on looking up, we sa\ the deer trotting 

 deliberately but steadily up the hill away from us, evidently 

 having been moved by some suspicion of danger, though we were 

 positive he had not seen or scented us. " See to that ; the brute 

 is clean gone," said Donald ; and, indeed, clean gone he was for 

 that evening, as just then we lost sight of his antlers as he got 

 over the crest of the hill. On taking the glass, and examining 

 the whole country round, I spon saw the object of his alarm in 

 the person of the very shepherd whose house we were making 

 for. The man was passing at some distance on his way home- 

 wards, quite unconscious of our presence or the mischief he had 

 done, as he trudged along towards us with his plaid over his 

 shoulder, and his two colley dogs trotting slowly at his heels. 



