112 DEER-STALKING. 



and talk the shot over, and tell him where the bullet 

 went if he should happen to have seen it strike ; make 

 light of the matter, and tell him of others who have 

 missed, and do all that may be done to restore his con- 

 fidence, and then the next shot will very likely have a 

 happier termination. It is, I think, Sir Emerson Tennent 

 who writes, " Whenever I miss I feel like a funeral 

 procession, of which I am the corpse, and the forester, 

 gillie, and pony-man the pall-bearers, and each will be 

 glad to be rid of me before they can again enjoy them- 

 selves." The writer quotes only from memory, and if 

 not strictly accurate, it is at any rate the pith of a very 

 excellent description of a party returning from stalking 

 after a good miss or two. 



Speaking of missing reminds me of a story that made 

 us all laugh. It happened that the musketry instructor 

 of one of Her Majesty's regiments distinguished himself 

 by a series of misses, and the owner of the forest, in 

 talking the matter over with the head forester, told 

 him of the gallant officer's position ; after some moments 

 of reflection the forester sadly remarked, "Well, all I 

 can say is, he'll just spile the shooting of his regiment." 



If you are successful, and come home having left a 

 couple of good stags on the hill, do not talk about " two 

 fat deer sixteen stone each " unless you are certain, for 

 you will look rather small next day if, when they are 

 put into the larder, the weighing machine says they are 

 barely fourteen stone each ; also, if you " fancy " yourself 

 at walking it will be wiser not to state at the dinner- 



o' 



table, that if your stalker carries the rifle, you never yet 

 met the man who could walk you down, for you will be 



