108 DEER-STALKING. CH. XXVr. 



then, as if determined to make one more effort for 

 his life, set off in a broken trot. He had been 

 winding about amongst the rocks all the time I had 

 been watching him, seldom more than two hundred 

 yards from me, and sometimes so near that I was 

 half tempted to try a shot at him ; but I was always 

 in hopes of getting within surer range, and did not 

 fire. He now trotted off about three hundred yards, 

 where there was a small black pool of water. Into 

 this he went ; it did not at first reach higher than 

 his knees. Just then Donald appeared in view, 

 coming slowly and cautiously over the hill, and 

 leading a pointer in a string. I saw that the dog 

 was tracking the deer. It was a large powerful dog, 

 of great size and strength — one of the finest, if not 

 quite the finest built dog of the kind that I had ever 

 possessed or seen. Having been at the death of one 

 or two deer, he had taken a mighty fancy to the 

 scent of a bleeding stag, and tracked true and keenly. 

 I sat quiet to watch him and the old Highlander, 

 as they came slowly but surely on the track, with 

 both their noses to the ground ; Donald hunting low, 

 in order to be sure that the dog was still right, 

 which he could tell pretty well by the occasional 

 spots of blood on the grey stones, though the ground 

 was too hard most of the way to show the mark of 

 the foot. Now and then they seemed quite thrown 



