CH. XXV. DEATH OF THE STAG. 89 



heather was longer. At last I reached the place, 

 and saw the tips of his horns not above eighty yards 

 from me. I had no fear of losing him now ; so, 

 taking out the cork from my rifle, I stretched my 

 limbs one by one, and prepared to rise to an atti- 

 tude in which I could shoot ; then, pushing my rifle 

 slowly forward, I got the barrel over the stone un- 

 perceived, and rose very gradually on one knee. 

 The stag seemed to be intent in watching the face 

 of the opposite hill, and, though I was partially 

 exposed, did not see me : his attitude was very 

 favourable, which is seldom the case when a stag 

 is lying down ; so, taking a deliberate aim at his 

 shoulder, I was on the point of firing, when he sud- 

 denly saw me, and, jumping up, made off as hard 

 as he could. He went in a slanting direction, and 

 before he had gone twenty yards I fired. I was 

 sure that I was steady on him, but the shot only 

 seemed to hurry his pace ; on he went like an 

 arrow out of a bow, having showed no symptom of 

 behig hurt beyond dropping his head for a single 

 moment. 



I remained motionless in despair : a more mag- 

 nificent stag I had never seen, and his bright red 

 colour and white-tipped horns showed me that he 

 was the very animal I had so often seen and wished 

 to get. He ran on without slackening his pace for 



