of the Old World. 21 



river, and there he was, standing in the torrent, 

 every now and then menacing Ponto with his 

 antlers, who was swimming in the stream, and had 

 enough to do to evade his frantic rushes. 



I was quite out of breath and powerless with the 

 run, but Walter, standing up, at once firm and col- 

 lected, took a deliberate aim with his unerring 

 rifle; an echo was heard rumbling among the 

 rocks, and the stag, taking a mighty spring, 

 plunged into the stream, shot through the brain, 

 and rose a lifeless thing. 



The current, which was extremely rapid, bore 

 the carcass down for some distance, dashing it 

 amongst the rocks and whirling it in the eddies, 

 and we had considerable difficulty in getting down 

 to drag it out, as the ravine was very steep and 

 full of precipices and huge rocks. At last we 

 managed to haul him high and dry on the bank, 

 and having gral^ched and covered him over with 

 branches and stones, we set off for the spot where 

 we had left the Killadar some five or six hours be- 

 fore. Just awakened from sleep, he had no idea 

 that we had been away so long, and fancied we 

 were joking when we told him of our sport. 



He sent his people, guided by Ponto, to sling 

 the venison on poles and bring it in, and " there 

 was a sound of revelry by night " in his little for- 

 tress, for after sending a couple of haunches into 



