36 CHAPTER V. 



I did not have deer stalking in my mind as a very serious or desirable 

 occupation. 



The rifle came, and it was all that I desired in every way except 

 sighting. The rear sight, open and of the V variety, was made as 

 Britishers generally desire their open sights, broad at the top and 

 tapering to the bottom, so that to get normal ranging qualities one 

 had to put the front sight in the bottom of the V. 



I have spent a good deal of my life in teaching men to do good 

 and consistent shooting with the open sight by putting the top of 

 the front sight on a level with the top of the V. That means a 

 relatively narrow V or a U, and a shallow one. I had just two shots 

 from my new Ross before I fired it at deer. I knew that I had to 

 get that front sight in the bottom of the V, but it was a mighty 

 hard thing for me to do. I had to sight and then think about it 

 every time I got actually sighted and ready to pull, and look more 

 than once before I could be actually sure that I was not aiming too 

 high. 



Of course, I did not say any of these things to Donald, or even 

 to myself at the time. I just said nothing to the men, and to 

 myself, "A miss, confound you, a miss." But I drew back from the 

 edge of the drop as soon as I could to where I could relax my strained 

 muscles and take a good, long breath. The deer moved on, but not 

 having seen us, they did not go above a mile. 



Donald led me on another stalk; this time not a very difficult 

 one, and we came out on a reasonable ledge to see my stag at 

 about 250 yards lying down, head toward rne. I knew I could 

 not hit him in that position, so I waited for him to get up. We were 

 well hidden ; the wind was blowing straight from the deer to us, and 

 there was little chance of their being frightened, and yet, of course, 

 the wind might change. 



By now I was becoming very anxious to kill this deer. I felt a 

 personal grudge against him. I wanted to take it out of his hide. 

 I wanted, in short, to kill him, and dip my hands in his blood. I 

 was savage and there was no mistake about it. I felt entitled to a deer, 

 anyway. I conceived I had earned one, and as far as I was concerned, 

 as long as it was up to me I proposed to get one if I could. 



