26 CHAPTER III. 



his feet and said in a low voice: "I'm thinkin' there's na shootable 

 staug in that lot, sir," and passed on. I silently mounted and followed. 



Soon the trail began to zig-zag up a sharp slope which formed the 

 side of a peaked mountain. Part way up, at a good vantage point, 

 Donald stopped and repeated the performance with the telescope. 

 Later on I found this was called "spying"; a perfectly satisfactory 

 name, it is, too. While I sat on my pony, mildly wondering what 

 would come next, he went back and talked to his two companions, 

 the gillies, who accompanied us. 



As they stood with their heads close together talking in low tones, 

 the rumbling of their murmured conversation punctuated at almost 

 regular intervals with interrogative grunts, "huh, humph," might have 

 marked them as conspirators plotting the most fiendish crime. But 

 Donald was merely laying out the plan for the day. Leaving them, 

 he came back to me and said, pointing up toward the summit of 

 the mountain: "We'll be walkin' up there, sir." 



I promptly got down out of the saddle and fell in the prescribed 

 three paces to the rear of Donald. One of the gillies swung in 

 behind me, the other took charge of the three ponies and started for 

 a sheltered place further down the hill. The wind was blowing on 

 the spine of the mountain, and one could easily get very cold when 

 standing still. I soon acquired the knowledge that one could just 

 as easily become very warm while walking. 



I had on heavy shoes, fortunately hobnailed, heavy woolen under- 

 clothing, a thick flannel shirt, close knit woolen stockings, pulled 

 over a pair of woolen socks, and a Burberry near-waterproof shoot- 

 ing suit over all. 



The mountainside rose steeply; where it was not rough with broken 

 stone it was slippery with peat hags. I was soft from the week 

 aboard ship and the idleness of a railway journey. We had not 

 traveled very far until I found there was difficulty in filling my lungs 

 with a sufficient amount of air to keep me going forward. Steadily 

 Donald moved upward. I remembered the golden rule to keep three 

 paces behind him and though I found it hard, I made up my mind 

 I would die upon the mountainside rather than fall back or cry for 

 mercy. 



