178 DAYS OF DEER-STALKING. 



masses of rock: now the prudent leader halts his forces and 

 closes up his files ; those in advance are scrutinising the 

 glen, whilst the rear-guard, wary and circumspect, are 

 watching the motions of the persevering drivers. As the 

 men come forward in a vast semicircle, the herd begin to 

 mend their pace, calves, hinds, and harts, come belling 

 along, and wind down the oblique paths of the steep, put- 

 ting in motion innumerable loose stones, that fall clattering 

 over the crags. 



The glen wore the appearance of utter solitude; but the 

 sportsmen were lying in ambush in various parts of it, 

 under the impending banks of the Tilt, behind fragments 

 of rock, or in some cleft or position which screened them 

 from the gaze of the deer. 



And now how many bosoms were throbbing at this 

 splendid spectacle, and what fitful changes from hope to 

 despair agitated individual sportsmen, as the herd ap- 

 proached, or deviated from their particular position. 



Beset upon their flanks and upon their rear, and seeing 

 no obstruction in the wild forest before them, after long and 

 deep misgivings, they take their desperate resolution: down 

 they sweep in gallant array, dash furiously across the 

 meadow, and plunge right into the flashing waters of the 

 Tilt. Hark how their hoofs clatter on its stony channel ! 

 Onward they rush, the moss-stained waters flying around 

 them, and are fast gaining the opposite bank. 



Their course being thus decidedly taken, the lurking rifle- 

 men spring up at once, like Clan Alpine's warriors, and 

 rush forward on all sides. 



Those who were fortunate enough to near the spot of 

 crossing had fair chances ; for though some of the herd 

 were cut off" and turned back to the west, yet so long a 

 string passed across the glen, that they had time to fire, 

 and load, and fire again. 



Many riflemen came in, breathless, from more distant 

 stations ; some in time, and others all too late. Several 

 shots were fired in distance, and out of distance, with 

 various success ; and the skirmish for a short space was 

 pretty brisk on all sides. The herd, having fairly crossed 

 the rocky channel of the Tilt, scampered away at a pro- 



