DEER-STALKING AND " STILL-HUNTING." 431 



considerable part of the distance, and the lateness of the 

 hour forbade our making a long detour, which also seemed 

 to offer a chance of success. We therefore adopted a third 

 course, and after quickly covering some two miles, mostly 

 through prickly spear-grass or water, reached a ridge 

 which my companion reckoned would command the course 

 of the deer as he fed forward. On peering through the 

 bushes on the crest, the stag was nowhere to be seen — we 

 had overshot the point, and he was now far to the right. 

 Before us stretched a long tongue of marshy water, choked ' 

 with grasses, and aquatic herbage floating on its surface. 

 With a sardonic grin, M. assured me that that grass would 

 prove the death of our stag. " He will feed along that pool," 

 he whispered, "nibbling the water-plants and sprouting 

 grass ; but first the daylight must decline." Ten minutes 

 later, the antlers showed, stealing from some distant covert ; 

 then the beast stepped into the open, advancing towards 

 the water. But suspicion torments him — between each 

 petulant snatch at the herbage, he stops and listens,, 

 raises his antlered head to gaze back towards the point 

 whence we had first viewed him : he little thinks the 

 enemy he fears behind is now close in his front. 

 Presently suspicion seems allayed : he advances with 

 stealthy strides along the grassy edge, and already 

 approaches the limits of very long range. The express was 

 ready cocked when the stag recommenced sniffing and gaz- 

 ing, now he turns and walks away : the wind is shifty, and 

 to get it full in his nostrils he bears from us. Clearly he 

 will not now pass our point near enough for a shot, so back 

 to lower ground we " slither," and run forward at best 

 speed to cut him out at another point. Still he is out of 

 shot— 300 yards off— and another race to the front is 

 necessary, a lung-trying spin of a quarter-mile. Now, we 

 must perforce rest, panting, for a few moments, ere we 

 again crawl up the ascent and " speer " over the ridge. 

 The stag is nowhere to be seen — yes, there he is ! he has 

 both heard and seen us now, and is bounding at top-speed 

 over our very ridge, not seventy yards in advance. Ere 

 the rifle can be levelled and a ball dispatched, the stag 



