CHAP. XXVI.] THE MUCKLE HART OF BENMORE, 205 
perhaps a mile and a half, but in excellent ground for .getting at 
him. Our plan was soon arranged. I was to stalk him with 
the rifle, while Donald, with my gun and Bran, was to get 
round, out of ‘sight, to the pass by which the deer was likely to 
leave the valley. My task was apparently very easy. After 
getting down behind the rock I had scarcely to stoop my head, 
but to walk up within shot, so favourable was the ground and 
the wind. I walked cautiously, however, and slowly, to give 
Donald time to reach the pass. JI was now within three hundred 
yards of him, when, as I leant against a slab of stone, all hid 
below my eyes, I saw him give a sudden start, stop feeding, and 
look round suspiciously. What a noble beast! what a stretch 
of antler! with a mane like a lion! He stood for a minute or 
two, snuffing every breath. J could not guess the cause of his 
alarm; it was not myself; the light wind blew fair down from 
him upon me; andI knew Donald would give him no inkling 
of his whereabouts. He presently began to move, and came at 
a slow trot directly towards me. My pulse beat high. Another 
hundred yards forward and he is mine! But it was not so to be. 
He took the top of a steep bank which commanded my position, 
saw me in an instant, and was off, at the speed of twenty miles 
an hour, to a pass wide from that where Donald was hid. While 
clattering up the hill, scattering the loose stones behind him, 
two other stags joined him, who had evidently been put up by 
Donald, and had given the alarm to my quarry. It was then 
that his great size was conspicuous. I could see with my glass 
they were full-grown stags, and with good heads, but they looked 
like fallow-deer as they followed him up the crag. I sat down, 
disappointed for the moment, and Donald soon joined me, much 
crestfallen, and cursing the stag in a curious variety of Gaelic 
oaths. Still it was something to have seen “the muckle stag,” 
and nil desperandum was my motto. We had a long and weary 
walk to Malcolm’s shealing ; and I was glad to get to my heather 
bed, after arranging that I should occupy the hiding-place Mal- 
colm had prepared near the dead sheep next morning. 
Wednesday.— We were up an hour before daylight; and in 
a very dark morning I sallied out with Malcolm to take my sta- 
tion for a shot at the eagles. Many a stumble and slip I made 
during our walk, but at last I was left alone fairly ensconced in 
