58 MY SPORTING HOLIDAYS 



But now the drive is over. Two stags lie dead 

 by our sportsman's post. The line of the second 

 stag fired at is cautiously followed. There he lies 

 stone-dead. The express bullet had entered too far 

 back, but, raking forward, had finished him within 

 200 yards. Three stags at one butt. This is indeed 

 a red-letter day ! The drivers now gradually collect, 

 and the party go round the lake to the Mannlicher 

 rifle post. A disconsolate ' Jager ' is found. ' Yes, a 

 splendid beast crossed the glen and gave me four 

 shots, but has gone on.' Soon a blood-trail is dis- 

 covered. He was evidently hit. Fortunately, a led 

 Finn dog is one of the party, and is put on the trail, 

 when half a mile away the stag is found lying dead. 

 He proves to be the best stag of the season, with 

 a wide and heavy head of eleven points. A single 

 Mannlicher bullet entering the haunch had raked him 

 fore and aft, and the wonder was that he had gone so 

 far. Four stags in a single drive is a record feat 

 for Hitteren. 



' Mange skut ; meget morsomt jagt,' says Daniel, 

 the head- stalker, who posts the rifles ; and we 

 ' skaal ' all round. Everything to-day has gone right, 

 as will sometimes happen, even in this uncertain 

 world. Besides the deer killed, two good stags with 

 some hinds have gone back over the f jeld ; but they 

 will do for another day. Only hinds and a knobber 

 had passed the rifle on the left. Not the least enjoy- 

 able part of the day is the picnic in the heather by 

 the lake, where the sportsmen ' fight their battles o'er 

 again,' and the drivers jabber Norske, and think of 

 the fat ribs of venison that will shortly be distributed 

 amongst them. 



