4 MY SPORTING HOLIDAYS 



heather- covered ground, interspersed with rocks, and 

 only boasted one f jeld of any height, the south and 

 west sides of which were covered with dwarf pine- 

 woods, stretching for two or three miles. Here was 

 our only chance of deer, and for some days we only 

 saw a hind or two, and did not get a shot. One 

 morning I spied from the top of this fjeld a small 

 stag and some hinds in the woods 150 yards below, 

 fired several shots with the sporting Snider rifle that 

 I carried, without effect, and returned with Hans, our 

 stalker, to our lodging in the farmhouse, considerably 

 depressed in spirits. Those venison steaks we had 

 promised ourselves seemed farther off than ever. 

 For the next two days we shot ryper along the edge 

 of the fjord, and gave the deer-ground a rest. We 

 then held a council of war with Hans and Edouard, 

 our stalkers, and determined to try the woods again 

 on a method of our own. MacGregor and Edouard 

 went through the thicker wood just under the crest 

 of the high fjeld, while Hans and I took a line a mile 

 to their right, and lower down. A more haphazard, 

 primitive method of ' deer- stalking,' if the term could 

 appropriately be applied to our operation, it would be 

 hard to find. The wind blew direct from my friend 

 to myself, and my line of country was over hillocky, 

 marshy ground, covered with scattered, stunted fir- 

 trees, through which we could here and there see for 

 100 yards or more. A good deal was obviously left 

 to chance. But it was the unusual that happened. 

 Hans and I had crawled round hillock and through 

 wood and bog for an hour or two, without sight of 

 deer or of fresh tracks, and I had carelessly dropped 

 a few yards to the rear, when Hans, looking round a 

 hillock in front of me, suddenly hissed, in an excited 



