THE STAG. 80 



" And watch with expectant and longing ear 

 For the merest coming sound ; 

 And, breathless, at last hear a rustling step 

 Move stealthily o'er the ground; 



" And then to behold, with exulting eye, 

 The creature with antlered crest 

 Emerge from a thicket, whose leafy boughs 

 Give way ''fore his hroacl brown chest ; 



'^ And watch how with caution he cometh forth, 

 And how in his 'pride of height 

 He wcdketh erect o'er the sun-lit svoard 

 Encircled in golden light ; 



" And behold him then stand before you there 

 In that still forest glade alone ; 

 Not a bow-shot's length from yoiu' o"mi right hand, 

 And to feel he is all yoiu' own ! " * 



I remember when out near the Danube between 

 Ratisbon and Straubing, a number of beaters were sta- 

 tioned at short intervals to go through the forest and 

 rouse the game. As it was not yet time to begin to 

 move, they lay down, each at his station, on the 

 moss. Thus they remained for, maybe, a quarter of 

 an hour. I all the while was near them. Nor were 

 they silent while they waited. Presently they moved, 

 when suddenly a stag, which all the time had been 

 close to us, rushed from behind a tree and was below 

 in the vale in a moment. He had watched all our 

 proceedings, and had remained motionless ; and it was 



* Ballad of the Eoyal liimt in the forest of Winchester. 

 G 3 



