TWO AT ONE STALK. 57 



the day came on. The wind must easily have reached fifty miles an 

 hour, and the sleet which it brought with it was so fiercely driven 

 that all one could do was to sit tight, with back toward the gale and 

 wish for it to cease. It passed in time, or rather lessened, because 

 the hailstorm continued for two hours or more, I think, but I was 

 not caring much. 



We went down the hiii to the flat by the Loch side and from there 

 to the trail, and the men with the ponies returned for the deer, while 

 I went on to the Lodge alone, getting in a little past five o'clock. I 

 was feeling a little more "comfy" in my mind about this time over 

 my shooting, and found nothing to complain of in the rough weather, 

 which I had been bucking since early morning. The two stags had 

 respectively nine and six points ; one of them weighed fourteen stone 

 eight; the other fourteen stone six. Good sized deer, as you see, each 

 over 200 pounds. 



There is a considerable diversity, of course, in the color of coat worn 

 by these highland gentlemen, but in general appearance the deer sug- 

 gests our white tail. Some were red brown and some were gray, but 

 that is true of deer everywhere I have found them. They vary in color. 



There was a gray stag I met in the Highlands oh, but that belongs 

 to another day's stalk and you shall hear about it later. 



