THE PRACTICE OF DEER-STALKING 155 



he replied, ' but I have great confidence in the bitch, 

 and besides she will soon overtake the herd, and 

 the lame one is likely to be the last, and therefore 

 the first which Lassie will come up to.' This last 

 argument decided me. ' Let her go,' I whispered, and 

 off she went. So quick were her movements, that 

 the herd had not started when she was close upon 

 them. Then they broke up into two lots, and off 

 they went at a great pace. Would Lassie take the 

 lot in which was our wounded stag ? No ! she goes 

 after the others, and our hearts sink within us. But 

 only for an instant quick as thought she finds out 

 that our stag is not in front of her, so she gallops 

 back to where they were standing, takes up the track 

 of the other parcel, and away she goes again in hot 

 pursuit. She gets close to them a real fast dog will 

 always beat a deer up hill they again split up, the 

 wounded stag and one other going to the right, the 

 remainder straight on up the hill. 'We are done 

 this time,' I exclaimed, as the bitch went as hard as 

 she could after the herd. The words were hardly out 

 of my mouth when she again turned back, took up 

 the track of our wounded beast, came up with him, 

 turned him down to the burn, and in less than a 

 minute afterwards we had him with a shot through 

 his head. This was a splendid performance. 



