THE FOREST MONARCH. 219 



" Come this way, quick ! " says Ramzan, starting off at a 

 run ; " he'll cross the ridge lower down, as he's making for 

 the wood behind it." There is no stopping to recharge the 

 empty barrel of my muzzle-loader, for we have only just 

 time to run down the ridge and head the animal before the 

 white tips of his horns are again in sight. How I gloat on 

 those massive, wide-spreading beams and twelve long tines 

 as they draw nearer and nearer ! I fancy I can see those 

 antlers now, as I write, swaying to and fro, as the seemingly 

 wounded stag labours slowly up the hillside, until he is 

 actually within fifty yards of where we are crouching 

 low among the tall ferns. As I put up the rifle nothing is 

 to be seen before its sights but a broad brown shoulder; 

 and from the fact of there being only space for at least a 

 mile beyond the deer, the loud smack made by the shell 

 cannot possibly have told on anything but him. On re- 

 ceiving the shot he stops short, turns his head slowly 

 towards us, and after standing for a few seconds steadfastly 

 gazing at us, continues his course at a canter towards the 

 ridge, and crossing it just below us, disappears into the 

 wood beyond it, exactly as my crafty old companion had 

 foretold. 



" There's not such another hangul in all these forests," 

 says Eamzan hurriedly, as he impatiently assists me to 

 reload. "He's badly wounded, so we're sure to come up 

 with him in the wood." Never before have I seen the old 

 man so excited, and I feel quite confident myself that the 

 stag is mine. But, alas ! w^e are both mistaken this time. 

 Although we follow the track until evening, never again do 

 we set eyes on that monarch of the forest after his clearing 

 the ridge. 



It was some time ere I could realise the sad fact that I 

 had lost this splendid brute. I now came to the conclusion 

 either that the hardened detonating shell must have burst 

 to pieces in the thick muscles of the shoulder without 

 penetrating farther, or that the whole thing was an optical 



