m4 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CHAP XxI. 
was hopeless, and that we had better make our way home and 
attempt.no more, as they were feeding in so open a place that it 
was impossible to get at them: even Bran yawned and rose, as 
if he too had given up all hope. ‘I will have one try, Donald; 
so hold the dog.” ‘You need na fash yoursel, Sir; they are 
clean out of all hope and reason.” J determined to make an 
effort before it became dusk ; so leaving Donald, I set off down 
the burn, looking for some hollow place that might favour my 
getting up to them, but I could find none: at last it struck me 
that I might by chance get up within a long shot by keeping a 
small hillock, which was in the middle of the plain, between me 
and the deer. The hillock was not two feet high, and all de- 
pended on the animals keeping together and not outflanking me. 
On I went, not on my hands and knees, but crawling like a 
snake, and never rising even to my knee. I could see their 
hind-quarters as they walked away, feeding, however, most 
eagerly, and when they looked up I lay still flatter on the 
ground with my face buried in the heather. They appeared, 
however, not to suspect danger in the open plain, but often 
looked anxiously towards the burn or the rocky side of the 
mountain. One old long-legged hind kept me in a constant 
state of alarm, as she frequently looked in my direction, turning 
her ears as if to catch some suspicious sound. As for the stag, 
he never looked about him once, leaving that to the hinds. I 
at last got within about a hundred yards of the whole of them: 
as they fed in a group turned away from me, I could not get a 
shot at anything but their hind-quarters, and I did not wish to - 
shoot unless I could get a fair broadside towards me. While 
waiting for an opportunity, still flat on the ground, a grouse 
cock walked out of the heather close to me, and strutted on 
with head erect and his bright eye fixed on me till he came to a 
litte hillock, where he stopped «nd began to utter a note of 
alarm. Instantly every deer left off eating. I saw that no time 
was to be lost and raised myself on my elbow, and with cocked 
cifle waited for the hinds to move, that I might get at the stag, 
who was in the midst of them. The hinds soon saw me and 
began to trot away, but their leader seemed determined to see 
what the danger was, and before he started turned round to look 
towards the spot where the grouse was, giving me a good slant. 
