9 8 HUNTING CAMPS. 



in the deep reindeer moss, his great antlers swaying up and 

 down. He next partially turned away from us, and we 

 took the opportunity of creeping into a depression at the 

 foot of the hummock on which the stones lay and, pausing 

 behind a small bank of moss, took another look at him 

 through the telescope. Owing to his position it was still 

 impossible to distinguish much beyond the fact that his 

 horns were exceedingly heavy, but even on that count alone 

 there could be no question about its being a grand head. 

 He was now feeding on a mound encircled by a depression, 

 much as a saucer surrounds a cup. We made our way along 

 this depression and then upwards to a boulder within one 

 hundred and twenty yards of a spot he must pass, and there 

 we waited. Presently the big stag finished his nuzzling in 

 the moss and slowly walked out into full view. I could per- 

 fectly see his head now, with its heavy, wide-spread horns, 

 the one clubbed top and the other top with its five points. 



He was right above us, and at the shot from the Mann- 

 licher he walked two or three paces forward and crashed 

 down, rolling over. We at once ran up the hill, and found 

 the bullet had entered under his chest, coming out through 

 his back. I had known all the time that he was an uncom- 

 monly good stag, but I was not prepared for the weight of 

 horn resting upon the moss. He carried thirty-five large 

 points, but the antlers, which were extraordinarily wide 

 and heavy, were uneven, the right being clubbed, as I have 

 said. He was undoubtedly an old stag, and was certainly 

 going back in the perfection of his horns. 



After this, very pleased with our good fortune, we 

 went off to our lunch, which we took in the shelter of a small 

 drogue, filling our kettles from a shallow upland pond, 

 blown into a thousand ripples by the wind. During the 

 meal a heavy cloud drifted up, and snow began to fall 

 thickly. For a while the sky to windward remained bleak 

 and drab-coloured, but presently a golden belt of light, 



