102 BENULA AND FARLEY, 1920 



very hot as Sandy had predicted. We at once 

 spied a good number of stags lying down about 

 half a mile in front of us and a good deal above us 

 to the left of a burn, which we hoped would give 

 us cover to creep farther up. However, our 

 advance was made very difficult by the fact that 

 there were a good many hinds lying on the right 

 side of the burn opposite the stags, and in spite 

 of every care they got us when we had crawled 

 and climbed about half the distance up the burn, 

 and a most fascinating stalk was brought to a sad 

 end. We lunched beside the burn in glorious 

 sunshine, and after a short rest girded our loins 

 for the rest of the ascent. By the time we had 

 reached the summit Susan was cooked and said 

 she could go no farther, so Boa advised her 

 resting with Sandy, where she was for an hour, 

 and then they could both descend to the ponies 

 which would have arrived by then, and which 

 they would be able to see on the path about 2,000 

 feet beneath them only a grassy descent, but 

 very steep and they managed it quite com- 

 fortably when the time came. Boa and I then 

 pushed on to examine the corries on either side of 

 the ridge we were on. We found nothing in the 

 next one on the left, but a little farther on in the 

 corrie on our right we spied two fairly good stags 

 lying down alone. They were a little below us, 

 and we had no difficulty in crawling and sliding 

 down till we were about 100 yards from them. 



