342 SHOET STALKS 



cliff, get beyond them, Kenny was to stay with the other 

 man, and so get the deer between them. As soon as they 

 attempted to turn back they were to show themselves, and 

 keep them on the ridge as long as possible. The plan 

 succeeded perfectly. Tostin had my breechloader, at that 

 time quite a novelty, and, with the unaccustomed facility, 

 he was rather reckless of his bullets, which beo-an to sino- 

 past his companions' ears. The poor brutes were quite 

 pounded, and did not know which way to go. Before 

 they could get past Kenny, three of them lay dead on the 

 ridge. The fourth made a bolt to get back, but he cut 

 her off, and put a bullet into her as she passed within thirty 

 yards, which quickly brought her to a standstill. He had 

 them all four lying dead within two hundred yards of each 

 other. It was not till then that he found that they were all 

 hinds. This was rather a damper, but at least the meat was 

 very welcome in the households to which it found its way. 

 The next day we went down into Eikisdal to spend 

 Sunday at Tostin's farm in the hope that my ailments 

 would yield to a warmer climate. This valley forms a very 

 deep trench. There were no preliminary slopes, but, after 

 walking for several miles over fjeld more or less level, we 

 came suddenly to what seemed the edge of an enormous 

 rent in the hills. In front of us, the cliffs were broken at 

 one point by a gap which admitted of a steep zigzag path 

 being carried down its side, through a tangled copse of 

 creeping birch. At first, clouds filled the valley and pre- 

 vented our seeing to the bottom, but as we got below these, 

 we saw the inky surface of a lake extending for several 

 miles. It fills the valley from side to side, and washes the 

 base of the precipices. On the op})Osite side, Ijlack sheer 



