DEER-STALKING. 171 



unfathomable space,. Beneath my feet is sweet 

 sunny life and all its enjoyments. Between it and 

 the shadow of death above me, who should hesitate ? 

 I satisfy my conscience by despatching my two 

 natives to ascertain whether the new route proposed 

 is practicable, while I remain watching the deer. 

 Not long are they absent ; one of them is an old 

 hunter, and his heart has warmed at the sight of 

 the game, and they report that not for 100 dollars 

 22 IQS., and their ideal of inexhaustible wealth 

 would they attempt it ! and so, employer and 

 employed equally relieved, we seek a lower level 

 and regain the spot where we had left our super- 

 fluous clothing and, alas ! my only weapon, a small 

 rook or rabbit rifle, which for its lightness I took 

 with me, never dreaming of deer, which were hardly 

 ever seen in that region, but for the purpose of 

 killing ptarmigan when sitting in confiding tameness 

 or stupidity on the stones. I am sorely troubled. 

 Am I justified in trying for the big stag with such 

 a boy's weapon ? I commune with the old hunter, 



