1 82 SPORT. 



strongly urging our immediate retreat, pointing out 

 the danger of remaining out all night, the risk of 

 finding ourselves enveloped in mist at daybreak, 

 the impossibility, in his view, of coming up again 

 with the stag ; which he declares can only be slightly 

 wounded, or he would not have got up again after 

 he had once lain down, and playing finally his trump 

 card of " no food." I, on the other hand, ridicule 

 the " danger " argument. The night is not cold, 

 and it is short ; we have each a plaid or blanket ; 

 as to mist, I have a compass. The stag, I assert 

 with solemn adjurations, is mortally wounded, and 

 it would be cruelty, as well as folly, to leave him 

 on the hill ; as to " no food," there is the stag 

 himself, whose liver we would certainly fry for 

 an early breakfast to-morrow. But the old hunter 

 will not agree, and he reinforces his past arguments 

 by pointing out what had till then escaped my 

 observation, certain disquieting indications in the 

 weather. My other native, by name " Ole," an 

 old and devoted adherent of mine, will do just 



