30 CRASNOI LAIS. 



the undergrowth. On and on it came, growing 

 ever louder as it drew near, until the noise in that 

 silent place seemed worthy of a herd of elephants. 

 It came straight towards where I lay, and my 

 heart beat so loudly with excitement that I really 

 believed for the moment that the approaching 

 beasts must hear it as I did ; and in my anxiety I 

 even pressed my breast with my hands in an un- 

 reasoning hope of silencing it. The noise was now 

 so close that it seemed impossible but that I must 

 see the cause of it, when suddenly another sound 

 caught my ear. A slow scraping sound, painfully 

 distinct for a minute, while the other sound ceased ; 

 then a rasping sound and a crash as of some heavy 

 body falling, followed by a thundering rush, a 

 glimpse of four splendid deer, magnified by the 

 moonlight, bounding across one of the hazel vistas 

 some four hundred yards off, a sharp, clear whistle, 

 and then as the sound of the flying deer died away, 

 the tramp of approaching footsteps, and all was 

 over. The Cossack arrived first, and behind him 

 my German jJiger, woefully crestfallen, as well he 

 might have been could he have known what black 

 wrath filled his companion's heart. The deer had 

 been coining straight to me when my friend, 

 alarmed by the tremendous noise they made 

 amongst the frozen branches, had attempted to 

 swarm the oak under which he had been placed. 

 For a time he got on very well, and then losing 



