TRACKING A STAG 131 



In driving some woods one day in Ross-shire, a fine stag 

 broke into a wide opening ; two or three sportsmen were 

 stationed at some distance above me ; as the deer passed, 1 

 saw the light puffs of smoke, and heard the crack of their rifles 

 as they fired. At every shot the poor animal doubled with the 

 most extraordinary bounds ; he tried to turn back to the cover 

 from which he had been driven, but the shouts of the beaters 

 deterred him, and after stopping for a moment to deliberate, 

 he came back fully determined to cross the opening, in order 

 to gain the shelter of some large woods beyond it. He was 

 galloping across it, when crack went another rifle, the ball 

 striking with a splash into a small pool of water close to him, 

 this turned him towards me, and down he came in my direction 

 as hard as he could gallop ; he appeared to be coming directly 

 at me : just as he was about a hundred yards from me, a shout 

 from the beaters, who were coming in view, turned him again, 

 and he passed me, going ventre a terre, with his head up and 

 his horns back over his shoulders, giving me a good broadside 

 shot ; I fired, and he reeled, turning half round. Bang went 

 my other barrel, and the stag rolled over like a rabbit, with a 

 force and crash that seemed as if it would have broken every 

 bone in his body. Up he got again, and went off, apparently 

 as sound as ever, into the large wood, passing close to a sports- 

 man who was loading ; when in the wood, we saw him halt for 

 a moment on a hillock and take a good steady look at us all, 

 who were lost in astonishment at his escape after having been 

 so fairly upset. He then went off at a steady swinging gallop, 

 and we heard him long after he was out of view crashing 

 through the dry branches of the young fir-trees. " Bring the 

 dog,'' was the cry, and a very large animal, something between 

 a mastiff and a St. Bernard, was brought ; the dog went off for 

 a little while, barking and making a great noise, but after 

 rushing up against half a dozen trees, and tumbling over 

 amongst the hidden stones, he came back limping and unwilling 

 to renew the hunt. I had left my bulldog with a sei^vant at a 

 point of the wood some distance off, and I proposed sending 

 for him ; one of the sportsmen, who had never seen him engaged 

 in this kind of duty, sarcastically said, "What, that dog who 

 followed us to-day, as we rode up ? He can be no use ; he 

 looks more fit to kill cats or pin a bull." Our host, however, 



