90 DEER-STALKING. CH. XXV. 



at least a hundred yards, then suddenly fell with a 

 crash to the ground, his horns rattling against the 

 stones. I knew he was perfectly dead, so, calling 

 the dog, ran up to him. The stag was quite motion- 

 less, and lay stretched out where he fell, without a 

 single struggle. I found on opening him that the 

 ball had passed through the lower part of his heart — 

 a wound I should have imagined sufficient to have 

 deprived any animal of life and motion instantane- 

 ously. But I have shot several deer through the 

 heart, and have observed that when hit low they 

 frequently ran from twenty to eighty yards. If, 

 however, the ball has passed through the upper part 

 of the heart, or has cut the large blood-vessels im- 

 mediately above it, death has been instantaneous, 

 the animal dropping without a struggle. 



Having duly admired and examined the poor 

 stag, not, I must own, without feeling compunction 

 at having put an end to his life, I set to work bleed- 

 ing and otherwise preparing him for being left on 

 the hill till the next day, secure from attacks of 

 ravens and eagles ; then, having taken my land- 

 marks so as to be sure of finding him again, I 

 started on my march to the shepherd's house, look- 

 ing rather anxiously round at the increasing length 

 of my shadow and the diminished height of the sun ; 

 the more so as I had to pass some very boggy 



