334 SHORT STALKS 



himself. Subsequent experience lias led me to the con- 

 clusion that a bear seldom spends two nights running in the 

 same bed, or even in the same valley, especially when his 

 conscience is burdened with a crime like the above, and also 

 that he is as a rule far too cunnini>- to be driven to o-uns. 

 If the peasants see a bear twice in the year they think he 

 is always thereabouts, and they are very ready to turn out 

 for a drive, both because they enjoy the lark themselves, 

 and because they like to keep the Englishmen in the place. 

 On the third mornino- the weather cleared and Ave were 

 al)le to go up to the fjeld. We sent our luggage on a 

 pony to a certain sceter, and soon reached a high point 

 whence we could survey a large area. We were not long- 

 in finding a herd of deer disporting themselves in the 

 middle of a snow-fifdd, but while we were discussinsf how 

 best to get at them, they suddenly galloped off and we 

 saw them no more. I believe they winded the pony who 

 was in the valley. Before long we made out three more a 

 great way off. We had to go over some rough ground and 

 so lost sight of them, but about mid-day we found them 

 again. They were half a mile off, in the middle of a 

 little plain at the bottom of a valley, so that we were 

 fully exposed to view if we moved towards them, but by 

 moving in line on hands and knees, and stopping when 

 they looked up, we got, after an hour's crawling, to a big- 

 rock within four hundred yards of them, behind which we 

 could again stand upright. Beyond that, there was not a 

 stick or stone to cover us, and there we had to wait, hoping 

 that the deer would shift to better ground, or that some- 

 thing would turn up, but for many hours they refused to 

 move. We began to be anxious, as we were far from our 



