SPORT AND TRAVEL 253 



tracks wandered about very much ; and though we 

 followed them with the greatest caution, the wary 

 animal we were after presently became aware of our 

 presence, though our general direction was against 

 the wind. I fancy he must have seen or heard us. 

 At any rate we suddenly came upon the bed where 

 he had been lying in a depression behind a fallen log, 

 which he had left with a bound. 



It was now eleven o'clock, and we had started the 

 hunt at about eight, and it was not until after 4 P.M. 

 that we finally brought it to a successful conclusion. 

 Having failed to get on to our quarry by tracking, 

 our plan now was to head him off. The patches of 

 scrub from one to the other of which the deer ran, 

 when disturbed, all lay in the valley of the river, but 

 were often very extensive, making it very difficult to 

 judge where he was most likely to pass. The new 

 snow was greatly in our favour, as we never lost any 

 time looking for the tracks. Graham always kept on 

 the spoor, in order to keep him on the move, whilst 

 I made circle after circle to try to head him and 

 get a shot as he came past me. After having been 

 once disturbed, he never went far before lying down 

 again, but just dodged us, with the most extraordi- 

 nary cunning. We had played this game of " hide 

 and seek " for some hours, and it was already late in 

 the afternoon when the chase led us back once more 

 to the thick scrub on Johnson's ranch in which we 

 had originally found the tracks of the deer. As I 



