A NINE-POINTER 209 



the skyline of trees. As the light grew stronger 

 I made out three hinds and a stag. They were 

 very restless, and it was some time before I could 

 count five points on his left horn and four on his 

 right. 



After watching him for some time I began to 

 think we might make a move, for I knew that they 

 would soon go back into the wood. I made signs 

 to my companion, but he hesitated, shuffled about, 

 and laid his hand on my arm whenever I attempted 

 to move. Rather at a loss to understand his 

 manoeuvres, but concluding that he had some plan 

 of his own, I waited. Finally getting tired of it, 

 I looked at my watch and found that three-quarters 

 of an hour had been wasted. Then, in spite of 

 Lao- Wei's agonised expression, I started off up 

 the hill, intending to come round the top of the 

 ridge and get in above the stag under cover of the 

 trees. He roared away with great vigour as we 

 toiled up the ridge and seemed, as we reached its 

 summit, to be making for the top of the . corrie. 

 I could hear him two hundred yards below me, 

 but owing to the steepness of the ground and the 

 thick belt of trees dividing us, could not, of course, 

 see him. Then, like a curtain, down came the mist. 

 Lao- Wei chose that identical moment to drop my 

 rifle in the snow and sit down with a bang on the 

 stump of a tree. The stag stopped roaring, and 

 there was nothing for it but to go back to camp. 

 It was very irritating as, had we started when we 

 first saw him, I should most probably have got 

 a shot. I found out afterwards that the hard-and- 

 fast rule followed by all the native hunters was to 

 locate their stag in the morning, return to camp, 



