310 SHORT STALKS 



" On the last clay of September, I started in tlie dark, 

 and, winding upward through the forest, readied tlie 

 liio;liest ridg-e of the mountain in time to see all the olories 

 of an eastern sunrise amono-.st its white cra2;s and l)lack 

 pines. AVe had hardly begun the descent on the farther 

 side when a solitary hind trotted out into full view and, 

 after returning our gaze for some moments, trotted away, 

 having once more reminded us liow easy it was to be 

 amongst the deer without knowing it, 



"Soon afterwards tlie distant liellow of a stao- reached 

 us, and we made for the corrie whence the sound came ; he 

 repeated his challenge, and at length we got so near that 

 my heart jumped every time he lifted up his voice. AVe lay 

 down and presently saw a hind's head appear on the sky- 

 line above us. She apparently approved of the prospect and 

 came out. Then another followed, and another, and lastly a 

 pair of great antlers like a withered tree showed above the 

 ridge. We crawled down into a gully and laid our plan for 

 a stalk. The ground for once was nearly free from trees, 

 but covered with masses of rock, and cairns of loose stones, 

 intersected with little ravines. Achniet conducted me 

 rapidly and skilfully across the open, displa3'iiig the dash 

 that is sometimes essential to success when deer are on the 

 move, or in a wooded country where they may at any mo- 

 ment disappear from view. AVhen under the cover of rocks, 

 he would run as nimbly and silently as a cat, his feet being- 

 shod with goat skin, while he turned to me every minute, 

 patting the sole of one of his feet as a sign to me to make 

 less noise. We quickly arrived within a hundred yards of 

 the stag, and there behjw me I could see the crowns of his 

 horns, with f(»ur or five ' croches ' ' on top ' of each, showing 



