62 ERCHLESS AND FARLEY, 1918 



Ross, who had told us there was a good single 

 stag about, which proved to be our victim. And 

 Willie Mackintosh had heard the shot, so he ar- 

 rived on the scene with the pony; so with Eraser, 

 Sandy, and Susan, we were six in number quite 

 the stalking beano. Our stag only weighed 

 13 stone 8 pounds, but his horns were quite good, 

 and I determined to follow Billy Smith's example 

 and keep the horns and part of the skull, and they 

 now encircle the Madonna above the drawing-room 

 mantelpiece at Balblair. After lunch Eraser spied 

 a stag on the ridge south of the burn and spying 

 rock, not far from his house, on what appeared to 

 be very difficult ground; so saying good-bye to 

 Ross and telling Mackintosh to follow with the 

 pony and our stag, Eraser, Susan, Sandy, and I, 

 started for No. 2, and after a very difficult stalk 

 and a great deal of crawling, Eraser and I managed 

 to get to about 150 yards from him. We did not 

 make a very clever job of it, as when he got up he 

 presented an awkward shot, and I only wounded 

 him; and though pretty sick, he managed to gain 

 the ridge and disappear. I told Eraser to run on 

 and try and get a shot at him before he reached the 

 wood, which was not more than half a mile dis- 

 tant. So away went Eraser at top speed, and 

 found our friend very sick about 100 yards over 

 the ridge, and he with great care proceeded to 

 place a bullet in one of the haunches, which settled 

 matters and also the venison; and I lumbered 



