MY FIRST STALK. 75 



was tantamount to risking my chance, and after it was 

 all over Archie showed me the line I (night to have 

 taken, and which would have brought me much nearer 

 to my quarry, had I allowed him to take me up ; but in 

 my ignorance and excitement I had made up my mind 

 to have as much of the honour and glory as possible. 

 A very steep clamber now brought us to the spot where 

 the burn came tumbling out of the corrie. Suddenly 

 Archie sank quietly flat, and the look he gave me as he 

 muttered, " Shape ! the beggars ! " would at any other 

 time have sent me into fits of laughter. However, 

 there they were, some dozen of them, right in our line 

 of advance, and half startled ; once wholly so, our 

 chance would be spoilt. There was nothing for it but 

 to wait, and after half an hour of anxiety they at 

 length fed away quietly. Almost crawling, and moving 

 very cautiously for fear of meeting more sheep, we 

 entered the burn, which had cut a deep channel through 

 the peat, and gave us splendid shelter, if somewhat wet 

 and dirty. About an hour and a half since, lying by 

 the side of this burn, we had left our stag, and here I 

 parted with Archie, with many injunctions to "mind 

 the shape," and " tak' plenty o' time." After crawling 

 on hands and knees some distance, I took a peep a-head 

 through a bunch of old heather. To my great joy he 

 was still there, some four hundred yards distant, but he 

 was up and feeding. Crawling on as fast as I could, 

 another look showed me I was only about two hundred 

 and fifty yards off. He was feeding away from the 

 burn, striding from patch to patch of grass, taking a 

 bite here, a bite there, and tossing his head to the 



