48 CHAPTER VII. 



"Well," I replied, "I don't mind that. Whatever you say, Donald. 

 You're in command. All I have to do is to follow you, obey 

 orders, and fire my salute when the time comes. But I warn you 

 before we start not to bring me within range of a stag unless you 

 want that particular beast killed, because I've a notion that any shot 

 I fire today is going to mean meat for the camp." 



Donald had a sense of humor. He smiled a broad smile, as he 

 said: "Weel, we'll juist gang on, sir." 



For a moment I did not know whether he intended to move away 

 from the deer or toward them, but I was reassured when he said : 

 "Maybe ye'd like to see them before we start? Look doon the hill 

 from where the sharp notch on the skyline over yon twa mile and 

 a ha', is in line wi' the white stane and the verra furthermoist peat 

 hag, and ye'll see them lyin'. The staug is furthest frae us." 



By dint of much searching and by virtue of my good glasses I 

 finally picked up the deer. I judged them to be at least two miles 

 from us in an air line. They were upon the gentle slope of a grassy 

 table-land which inclined toward Glen Muick and us. Searching out 

 the ground on all sides of them it did not seem to me possible they 

 could be stalked. It was hard ground indeed, but as Donald had 

 observed, the wind was right, because it blew from them almost di- 

 rectly toward us. 



Down the hill we went, taking long strides and making famous 

 headway. As soon as we were a hundred yards from the spying place, 

 the deer were out of sight. It was not long before the notch in the 

 hill and everything else except the grassland in front of us had dis- 

 appeared. I wondered how well Donald could orient himself and I 

 watched with close attention. 



We had to make detour after detour to avoid rough and boggy places 

 or to cross obstructions, but he always swung back to that general 

 direction which seemed the right one to me. 



This grassy meadow was like the one I encountered when I first 

 tried the grouse. It had water underneath and the walking was not 

 easy. We were going quickly and were soon in a fine glow. After 

 a time we came into a little gully, that ran around the hill at right 

 angles to the course we had been pursuing. Up this we started. Its 

 sides were peat and in its bottom a little burn, the walls of it six or 



