94 DEER-STALKING. 



to the hill top over which Donald is coming. Thus for 

 a few seconds they stand as if petrified, and then they 

 are all heading towards me at a trot. They come on for 

 about two hundred yards, and then stop and look back ; 

 but this does not trouble me, for I am in the pass, and 

 they have nowhere else to go to. I pick up the glass, 

 and notice the whereabouts in the herd of a few very 

 good stags, and casting it up to the sky-line beyond, 

 see Donald coming into view ; then they all begin to 

 walk quietly towards my hiding-place, looking back 

 continually. The leading hinds are not three hundred 

 yards away; the stops are drawn back, the rifle full 

 cock, when, horror of horrors 1 I feel a distinct puff of 

 wind at my back ! A few seconds after they all come 

 to a dead stop, and look suspiciously in my direction ; 

 see me I know they cannot. But again comes that 

 dreadful breeze, only this time stronger and longer; 

 suddenly the hinds bark, and the whole herd is gallop- 

 ing off at right angles, and it is too dark to shoot with 

 any certainty at that distance. Alas ! the wind had 

 changed and betrayed me. 



Now, I make it a rule to allow these catastrophes 

 to cause as little annoyance as possible, and take them 

 as philosophically as most, always provided they do 

 not arise from any bungling on my own part. So 

 I sat down and lit a pipe, pulled out the cartridges, 

 and waited in the dusk for Donald to join me. It 

 had now clouded over ominously, and large drops 

 were splashing down. With an ugly sound the wind 

 began to sigh in nasty gusts through the corrie, 

 and by the time we had joined forces again it was 



