304 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS chap. 



approach the stag with any hope of success, off we set at once, 

 and we had a quick and difficult march of it Ibr nearly half an 

 hour before we got into the burn, up the course of which we 

 proposed to keep, as it led straight to the deer. The banks, 

 however, were not so high as those of the former stream, and 

 the water ran over loose round stones, which made our task 

 much more difficult. 



We were within five hundred yards, and had got over the 

 worst of our ground, when, on looking up, we saw the deer 

 trotting deliberately but steadily up the hill away from us, 

 evidently having been moved by some suspicion of danger, 

 though we were positive he had not seen or scented us. "See 

 to that ; the brute is clean gone," said Donald ; and, indeed, 

 clean gone he was for that evening, as just then we lost sight 

 of his antlers as he got over the crest of the hill. On taking 

 the glass, and examining the whole country round, I soon saw 

 the object of his alarm in the person of the very shepherd 

 whose house we were making for. The man was passing at 

 some distance on his way homewards, quite unconscious of our 

 presence or the mischief he had done, as he trudged along 

 towards us with his plaid over his shoulder, and his two colley 

 d gs trotting slowly at his heels. " Oh, but we'll give him a 

 bonny fleg for spoiling our sport the night," said Malcolm. 

 Accordingly Donald and he concealed themselves in the burn, 

 one above and the other below the point at which the shepherd 

 appeared likely to cross it, while I remained hid in a hollow of 

 the moss, a quiet spectator of their attack on the poor fellow's 

 nerves. 



The shepherd had just put his foot in the burn, when 

 Malcolm shouted at the top of his voice, " Willie Young, Willie 

 Young," this being the man's name. He stopped short, and 

 with a frightened look at seeing no one, was going on his way 

 again, when Donald took up the chorus, " Willie Young, Willie 

 Young." " Wha's you ? " said the shepherd, turning towards 

 Donald. " Willie Young, Willie Young," then shouted Malcolm, 

 and at his voice the unhappy proprietor of the name wheeled 

 round as on a pivot. I could not refrain from joining in the 

 persecution, and Willie Young was kept for ten minutes, turning 

 from side to side, on hearing his name called by his unseen 

 tormentors, till he got so terribly frightened that I thought it 



