AN UNSUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT. 77 



little precipice of several hundred feet, that furnished the lower edge 

 of the glass slope. I literally hugged the earth all the way. 



I recall that a feeling of stern necessity for getting as low to the 

 ground as I could that the deer might not be alarmed, caused me to 

 never raise my eyes from what was immediately in front of me, and 

 it was thus I saw the single barreled small field glass of Danny, just 

 under my nose where it had slipped from his breast pocket as he 

 preceded me. 



Deer, like so many other animals, are more easily approached from 

 above and this face was literally so perpendicular that even had the 

 deer felt themselves in danger I doubt if they would have suspected 

 the approach of an enemy down this dangerous slope unless they 

 had caught the scent. The wind was quite right for us, and the 

 stalk entirely successful, in so far as it put us out upon a rocky ledge 

 after the crawl down and a climb up, a ledge which was not over 180 

 yards from where the nearest deer lay. 



With some difficulty Danny succeeded in pointing out to me the 

 shootable stag. This fellow lay stern on. He had been rolling in a 

 peat hag, too, and as he lay among peat hags it was almost im- 

 possible to distinguish him in the failing light of the late afternoon. I 

 got my position from which to fire and looked as intently as I could 

 through the sights. 



I soon decided it would be impossible to get in a shot at him 

 until he rose, therefore I had another one of those wait-and-get-cold 

 experiences which had now grown familiar. It was not alone the 

 fact that I soon was shivering in my wet clothes which made me 

 anxious, but the light was rapidly fading out of the West, and there 

 were not many more minutes left in which an aimed shot could be 

 fired. 



In my lowest practicable voice I intimated to Danny that it would 

 be necessary to do something. He offered this whispered observa- 

 tion: "Some gentlemen would like me to whustle 'um." I answered 

 him, "Go ahead and whistle, Danny. Anything to get them up." 



Danny gave one long, shrill whistle. I had the rifle pointed as 

 close as I could hold it on my stag, and I expected to put a shot 

 toward him as soon as he gave me a chance by starting to rise. Some- 

 what to my astonishment nothing happened. I turned to Danny to 



