IN SCOTCH DEER-FORESTS 85 



There were plenty of deer, but they were restless, 

 and the difficulty generally was to get through hinds 

 or past inferior stags to the warrantable beast one 

 wanted. 



Our next move that day was to spy a very fair 

 stag on a bare and open hillside near a parcel of 

 hinds, and with infinite trouble, after a long round, 

 we crawled over a small flat halfway up the hill, and 

 just out of sight of the deer, when Alec, the stalker, 

 suddenly petrified, so to speak, in front of me. I 

 glanced beyond him and down the hill. There ap- 

 peared a magnificent ten-pointer, obviously a far 

 better animal than the stag we were after, on his 

 way to drive off his rival and annex the hinds. This 

 operation was subsequently carried on in our full 

 view, but too far off for a shot. At length we re- 

 traced our steps, inch by inch, until we were over a 

 ridge and out of sight. Another long round, another 

 crawl, and I lay behind a boulder watching the ten- 

 pointer a good 200 yards away. 



The beast never would stand still. I was panting 

 and exhausted. I had almost forgotten what it felt 

 like to stand upright. 



c Alec, I do not like the shot. 5 



' But you must tak' it, sir,' was the rejoinder. 



4 Can't we get to that next stone yonder ?' 



4 It canna be done.' 



And so I paltered with the opportunity. It was by 

 far the best stag I had seen that season, and I simply 

 hated to fire and miss. For at least five minutes I 

 covered him, high up behind the shoulder, but feared 

 to press the trigger. Half a dozen times the finger 

 crooked. Each time the stag had moved. But the 

 end came at last. He stood at length, in a bad light, 



