CHAPTER XI 



THE DEERSTALKER 

 By CAPTAIN HENRY SHAW KENNEDY 



To my mind, for an outdoor servant, there is no more 

 delightful occupation than that of a deerstalker. His 

 life is generally spent in wild and magnificent scenery, 

 and though the house or lodge he lives in may be 

 isolated perhaps twenty miles from the nearest town 

 or village yet there is a charm in the isolation, and 

 there is a slight romance in living out of the world far 

 from human ken. What can be more delightful than 

 to feel that the " wild reel deers," as they call them, are 

 your only neighbours for miles and miles. Well, if these 

 are not to the stalker's liking, I should advise his taking 

 to some other trade. 



But now to business. Every man is not fitted to be 

 a deerstalker in fact, very few men are. No man need 

 attempt to take on this job with success unless he is 

 sound in heart, lung, and limb, with sight of the very 

 best. The stalker must be a first-class walker never 

 know what it is to be tired ; and, above all things, his 

 soul must be in his work. 



It is no easy task to outwit a large herd of deer, over 



227 



