34 CHAPTER V. 



It was not a long stalk. Not over two miles and the ground was 

 not too rough, though I promise you it was no tennis court surface 

 we traversed. I had not been shown the deer, and I was utterly in the 

 dark as to where we were going; all I could do was to follow my 

 leader and model my movements upon his. 



We finally came to a very sloping spot where the grass was short 

 and wet (it had been raining, though at that moment there was a lull) 

 which slanted very steeply to a rock edge which broke off into space. 

 From the extreme caution with which Donald made his way down 

 this face I knew that he not only considered it a hazardous one on 

 account of the chances of a fall, but also that he expected to see game 

 when he crawled to the edge and peered over. I lay flat behind him 

 with all the tense immobility of a frozen pointer, until he motioned me 

 up, with a small movement of the hand by his side. 



When my head came to a level with his he pointed over the edge 

 of the rock to a point below. Looking down from the ledge there 

 was a sheer drop of perhaps 250 feet. Some little distance out from 

 the base of the cliff, feeding quietly in a little meadow, were half 

 a dozen deer, among them a very fair-sized stag. 



Donald intimated to me in hoarse whispers that I was to shoot at 

 the stag. In the meantime the gillie crawling down behind me had 

 taken hold of my feet. I was glad he had. As I lay, my head was 

 easily three feet lower than my feet; and it was only by holding back 

 hard, that I was able to keep from slipping over the edge. And now 

 the stag was headed toward us, and wishing for a broadside shot 

 I must wait. 



Then the mist came down and turned into rain. More waiting, more 

 wetting, and increased cold. Finally there came a break in the watery 

 curtains and the stag was seen feeding broadside on. In a straight 

 line from the muzzle of my rifle to the beast was, as near as I could 

 guess, 200 yards, and Donald said 200 yards, so that was probably 

 about right. I knew I was likely to overshoot on a down hill shot, 

 and so I held for the lower edge of the body behind the front leg 

 and with the best and steadiest pull I could get under the circum- 

 stances, cut loose. 



It was not a very satisfactory shot. My position was too insecure. 

 I was too cold and uncomfortable to do my best, but at that I think 



