MY LUCKY NUMBER 45 



which saved us going on to the West Hill; but 

 we had to make a longish detour, as the wind 

 was north-west and we were due west of him. 

 After many casts and recasts and a good deal of 

 crawling, I got to about 300 yards of him, but 

 there he stood, roaring defiance, surrounded by 

 his hinds, and absolutely impossible to get nearer 

 and very difficult to get out of it. However, 

 300 yards was a bit too far even for our luck, so I 

 managed to wriggle back to Davie, whom I had 

 left 50 yards behind me so as to save him a crawl 

 over a very bare bit, and we determined to make 

 yet another cast and creep in on him down a gully 

 chancing the wind, as it would be a very near thing. 

 This time I managed to get to about 200 yards, 

 and as it was getting late chanced the shot, though 

 he was in a bad position, only half broadside on, 

 with his head away from me and still roaring ; but 

 his roaring days were numbered, as I got him 

 in the back and he could only rise on his fore legs, 

 both his hind legs being paralysed, and we soon 

 put him out of his misery. His weight was 

 14 stone, and he had a very good head of 8 points 

 with a wide spread and very symmetrical. It was 

 5.30 when we got him, and we spied him at 2, 

 so the stalk had been long, ditto, ditto my song, 

 and I expect old Davie was thankful when it was 

 over. A good day for our last one in the open 

 forest, and not altogether unworthy of our luck. 

 As we were five short of our number, I deter- 



