MHAP, III. ] MOUNTAIN SCENERY. 35 
rugged and barren foreground of rock and ravine, 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 currents 
of air, were whirled and tossed about, and then disappeared ; 
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 moun- 
tain 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 like the 
spirit of the mountain, he walked slowly on towards a ridge 
which connected two shoulders of the mountain together. Fre- 
yuently he stopped, and scratched with his hoof at some lichen- 
covered spot, feeding slowly (quite unconscious of danger) 
on the moss which he separated from the stones. I drew my 
shot, and put bullets into both barrels, and we followed him 
cautiously, creeping through the winding hollows of the rocks, 
sometimes advancing towards the stag, and at other times obliged 
suddenly to throw ourselves flat on the face of the stony moun- 
tain, to avoid his piercing gaze, as he turned frequently round to 
see that no enemy was following in his track. 
He came at one time toa ridge from which he had a clear 
view of a long stretch of the valley beneath. Here he halted to 
look down either in search of his comrades or to see that all was 
safe in that direction. I could see the tops of his horns as they 
remained perfectly motionless for several minutes on the horizon. 
We immediately made on for the place, crawling like worms 
over the stones, regardless of bruises and cuts. We were within 
about eighty yards of the points of his horns; the rest of the 
animal was invisible, being concealed by a mass of stone behind 
which he was standing. I looked over my shoulder at Donald, 
D2 
