CHAP, xxxiv.] DEER-STALKING. 269 



off. The dog having got after the deer (as Rory said, by 

 accident!), and being close alongside of him, was killed dead on 

 the spot by a single blow of his antler ; the stag having struck 

 him without stopping, simply turning his head and striking him 

 as he ran alongside. We examined the glen where we had seen 

 the deer, but without success ; no mark of him was to be seen. 

 The shepherd, however, told us to wait till about nine o'clock ; 

 it was nearly that hour now, and he would probably be seen 

 coming in to lie down for the day, on the slope of the hill above 

 the burn. We accordingly lay down quietly in a concealed 

 place, and, as he had predicted, we presently saw the magnificent 

 fellow appear on the top of the hill, where he halted for full ten mi- 

 nutes, looking carefully over the glen in order to see that it was 

 free from any enemy. The morning sun shining on his bright 

 hide, made him look of even a lighter and brighter colour than 

 he really was. His horns, though not exactly of first-rate size, 

 loomed large and wide, as seen in clear relief between us and the 

 sky. After standing some time, looking like the solitary spirit 

 of the mountain, he seemed to have made up his mind that all 

 was right and *afe, and he walked slowly and deliberately half- 

 way down the hill, and after stopping again to reconnoitre for a 

 short time, he dropped at once down into the heather. I watched 

 him for a few minutes through the glass, as he lay motionless, 

 excepting that now and then he turned his horn down to scratch 

 a fly off his side, or shook his ears when the gnats were particu- 

 larly troublesome about his head. 



We saw that he had taken up too wary and commanding a 

 position to admit of our approaching him with the dogs; so 

 after some consultation, and, as usual, much opposition from 

 Donald, we adopted my plan of driving him, taking the chance 

 of his leaving the glen at his usual pass, where Malcolm and I 

 were to hold the dogs. The shepherd was to move him ; and 

 Donald was to be placed with his gun in a burn over the hill, to 

 which we judged lie would probably run, and go to bay, when 

 pressed by the hounds. Donald, having loaded his gun with an 

 immense charge of slugs in one barrel and a ball in the other, 

 started off. The shepherd took a long circuit to get below the 

 deer, while Malcolm and I took up our post in a capital hiding- 

 place near the line by which the game had entered the glen. 



