110 DEER-STALKING. CH. XXVI. 



assistance ; he took a long look too at the country 

 far beyond where the animal really was. It was 

 amusing to see the old fellow, as he sat within eighty 

 yards of me, perfectly unconscious that the stag was 

 so near him, and that I was still nearer. The whole 

 thing, too, showed the great necessity of always having 

 a good tracking dog out when deer-stalking ; for here 

 was a mortally-struck stag lying concealed, where 

 a dozen men might have passed within a few yards 

 without seeing him. I thought it time to finish the 

 business, and gave a low whistle to warn Donald of 

 my neighbourhood before I stirred, as I thought 

 it not at all unlikely that he would fire blindly at 

 the first moving thing he saw amongst the rocks in 

 his present excited state. He started and stared 

 round him. I saw that the deer only crouched the 

 lower, and would not move ; so, whistling again, I 

 stood up. " The Lord keep us, Sir, but you flegged 

 me just awful V said Donald. " But did your Honour 

 see a stag come this way ?" I told him that I had, 

 and that he had passed on ; but I did not say how 

 far he had gone. The old man was annoyed in 

 no slight degree at the information ; and on my 

 questioning him how he had got at the deer, &c., 

 he told me that, as he came to meet me, he had 

 seen a crippled stag coming slowly over the ground 

 exactly towards him ; and that having stooped down 



