cxap. xxvL] THE MUCKLE HART OF BENMORE, 211 
(which I have since learnt to attribute to their true cause—the 
splitting of fragments of rock under a sudden change from wet 
to sharp frost), and above all, the constant recurrence of visions 
of weary struggles through fields of snow and ice kept me rest- 
less ; and at length awoke me to the consciousness of a brilliant 
skylight and keen frost—a change that rejoiced me in spite of 
the cold. 
Saturday.—Need I say my first object was to go down and 
examine the track anew. There wasno mistake. It was impos- 
sible to doubt that ‘“ the muckle hart of Benmore” had actually 
walked through that burn a few hours before me, and in the same 
direction. I followed the track, and breasted the opposite hill. 
Looking round from its summit, it appeared to me a familiar 
scene, and on considering a moment, I found I overlooked from 
a different quarter the very same rocky plain and the two black 
lochs where I had seen my chace three days before. I had not 
gazed many minutes when I saw a deer lying on a black hillock 
which was quite open. I lay down immediately, and with my 
glass made out at once the object of all my wanderings. My 
joy was somewhat abated by his position, which was not easily 
approachable. My first object, however, was to withdraw myself 
out of his sight, which I did by crawling backwards down a little 
bank till only the tops of his horns were visible, and they served 
to show me that he continued still. As he lay looking towards 
me, he commanded with his eye three-fourths of the circle, and 
the other quarter, where one might have got in upon him under 
cover of the little hillock, was unsafe from the wind blowing in 
that direction. A burn ran between him and me, one turn of 
which seemed to come within two hundred yardsof him. It was 
my only chance; so, retreating about half a mile, I got into the 
burn in hidden ground, and then crept up its channel with such 
caution that I never allowed myself a sight of more than the 
tips of his horns, till I had reached the nearest bend to him. 
There, looking through a tuft of rushes, I had a perfect view of 
the noble animal, lying on the open hillock, lazily stretched out 
at length, and only moving now and then to scratch his flank 
with his horn, I watched him for fully an hour, the water up to 
my knees all the time. At length he stirred, gathered his legs 
together, and rose; and arching his back, he stretched himself 
P2 
