82 DEERSTALKING. 



rolling up the mountains and across the moor made a 

 perfect picture of a wild landscape. 



Lazily I went to the window looking south to see 

 more of the view, and as I threw it open to get a better 

 look-out, the shadows rolled off stag-famed Ben y Vricht, 

 and a flood of most brilliant sunshine illumined its face ; 

 from the very summit of the rocky and precipitous crest 

 right down to the more gentle slopes of the heather- 

 clad base. So very sharp and clear did it seem to stand 

 out, that although four miles away, I turned to the 

 mantelpiece to reach down a spy-glass, remarking, " It 

 is so very bright that, in spite of the distance, one 

 might see deer if they were there." "No," said my 

 host, " it is too far, except by any chance there were a 

 hundred of them together, and they were moving." 

 However, kneeling down, and resting the glass on the 

 window-sill, it was brought to a focus, and lo and behold ! 

 there actually, as if by magic, were quite a hundred 

 deer, trotting in a mass across a bright green strip of 

 grass. The discovery is pro^aimed with great excite- 

 ment, and in no time every spy- glass on the premises 

 was turned on the herd. My host looked at me ; I 

 looked at him ; and our thoughts showed themselves in 

 the eyes of both. "Who shall go ?" was the question 

 that propounded itself unconsciously to each of us. 

 The matter was soon settled, for my friend, with rare 

 self-denial, and ever anxious to show sport to his friends, 

 said to me, " Well, as you found them, you shall go after 

 them; with this wind you must go round, so I will 

 post myself in a pass to which they may come." This 

 resolved, our third gun, who luckily did not much care 



