278 COLD QUARTERS. 



ragged fragments of mist began to circle and toss wildly 

 about the mountain-tops, and snow-flakes soon commenced 

 drifting thickly and rapidly past us ; so we sheltered under 

 the lee of some blocks of rock in a little birch coppice. How 

 we shivered with cold as the bleak chilling blast whistled 

 drearily through the birches and whirled away their withered 

 leaves before it ! For several hours we sat dolefully there, 

 crouching over a little spark of fire, for we dared not light a 

 bigger one lest the smoke should alarm the deer. I had not 

 even the solace of my pipe, which I had stupidly forgotten to 

 bring with me ; so I had recourse to Eamzan's snuff-box as a 

 substitute for a smoke. It was still snowing, and the lessen- 

 ing light warned us that it was time to be moving downwards, 

 when just then our drooping spirits were raised by the 

 welcome voice of a stag on an opposite hillside. The fire, 

 to which we had been gradually adding fuel as we grew 

 colder, was instantly doused. Exercise and excitement, how- 

 ever, soon warmed us up, and by the time we neared the 

 place where the stag had last been heard, it had almost ceased 

 snowing. But the dusk was fast closing in, and had it not 

 been for the fresh-fallen snow, on which we could distinctly 

 pick up the stag's slot, we should soon have lost the track. 

 Moreover, the beast was evidently now travelling pretty fast 

 and roaring very seldom. 



We had tracked through a dark strip of pine-wood, and 

 were about to emerge on to an open undulating bit of grass 

 beyond it, when we caught sight of the stag standing there 

 some distance ahead. I was very anxious to " loose " at him, 

 for the light was fast fading ; but as he had again resumed 

 his roaring at pretty regular intervals, Eamzan suggested that 

 we should try to get closer. Quickly we made a circuit 

 through some cover, and contrived to come up with the 

 animal as he stood for a few moments within some eighty 

 yards, slightly below us, and broadside on. But, alas ! the 

 short Indian twilight had now failed us, and I could no longer 



