114 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. _ [cwap. x1v. 
nN 
and with great precision, up to the place where the deer had 
dropped, or had concealed himself; appearing too to be acting 
more for the benefit of his master, and to show the game, than 
for his own amusement. I have no doubt that a clever Skye 
terrier would in many cases get the sportsman a second shot at 
a wounded deer with more certainty than almost any other kind 
of dog. Indeed, for this kind of work, a quiet though slow dog 
often is of more use than the best deer-hound. I at one time 
had an English bulldog, who accompanied me constantly in 
deer-stalking ; he learned to crouch and creep up to. the deer 
with me, never showing himself, and seemingly to understand 
perfectly what I wished him to do. When necessary I could 
leave him for hours together, lying alone on the hill, when he 
would never stir till called by me. Ifa deer was wounded, he 
would follow the track with untiring perseverance, distinguishing 
the scent of the wounded animal, and singling it out from the 
rest, never making a mistake in this respect; he would also 
follow the stag till he brought him to bay, when, with great 
address in avoiding the horns, he would rush in and seize him 
either by the throat or the ear, holding on till I came up, or, as 
he once did, strangling the animal, and then coming back to 
show me where he had left it. 
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, I saw the light puff 
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 com- 
ing in view, turned him again, and he passed me, going ventre a 
éerre, with his head up and bis horns back over his shoulders, 
