108 



WILD SPAIN. 



built up as a screen. The stag stood for some seconds 

 gazing backwards over his shoulder ; then, as he turned to 

 advance, he caught sight of me crouching beneath the 

 junipers, almost under his nose — and the bound he took 

 at that instant was a sight to remember. Away they 

 dashed, all four, straight along the line of guns ; but, 

 turning outwards, shortly after leaving my sight, the 

 stag fell to the rifle of my next neighbour. 



Then the beaters came up, and eagerly we went off to ex- 

 amine the result of my two shots. Alas ! no ingentia corpora 

 lay there, and on following their tracks for some distance, 

 it was quite clear that both stags had escaped scatheless. 

 The only relief to deep disappointment was that little 

 memorandum I had made beforehand, foretelling the 

 catastrophe, which was indeed more attributable to an ill- 

 judged position than to any want of care. 



Then, shortly afterwards, when I did manage to place 

 my bullet in a fine stag of fourteen points, a wide and 

 splendid head, the coveted trophy was again lost to me by 

 the rules of sport, owing to the fact that another leaden 

 messenger had preceded mine. This stag passed through 

 the line far to my right, receiving a shot in the stomach 

 as he passed, the effect being to turn him to me, and he 

 passed at full speed not thirty yards behind. A ball 

 through the heart rolled him over ; but the first wound, in 

 his left side, was unquestionably fatal. After this, for a 

 long time, no luck fell to my share ; only hinds broke near 

 my puestos, and, though they were most interesting objects, 

 with their timorous graceful movements, their great supple 

 ears inflected hither and thither, and large affectionate 

 eyes, which gave me infinite pleasure to watch, yet they 

 were not available quarry, and passed on unmolested. One 

 hind, which passed within ten yards, was followed (January 

 8th) by a tiny fawn. Occasionally a stag came forward, 

 cautiously feeling his way, step by step, to make sure 

 of avoiding danger ahead ; but these always managed 

 to detect something in time, and broke back, or passed 

 through at some other point. One of these stood for some 

 seconds almost within touch, only a thick bush between us, 



