CLOUD EFFECTS 



39 



where no living thing can find a resting-place save the eagle 

 or raven. 



I remember a particular incident of that day's ptarmigan- 

 shooting ; which, though it stopped our sport for some hours, 

 I would not on any account have missed seeing. Most of the 

 mist had cleared away, excepting a few cloud-like drifts, which 

 were passing along the steep sides of the mountain. These, 

 as one by one they gradually came into the influence of the 



MOUNTAIN SCENERY 



currents of air, were whirled and tossed about, and then dis- 

 appeared ; lost to sight in the clear noonday atmosphere, as if 

 evaporated by wind and sun. 



One of these light clouds, which we were watching, was 

 •suddenly caught in an eddy of wind, and, after being twisted 

 into strange fantastic shapes, was lifted up from the face of the 

 mountain. like a curtain, leaving in its place a magnificent stag, 

 of a size of body and stretch of antler rarely seen ; he was not 

 above three hundred yards from us, and standing in full relief 

 between us and the sky. After gazing around him, and looking 



