348 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



and we glided round the base of the knoll — but on the 

 other side lay three hinds and a calf, and I could see no 

 trace of the great hart. 



10. On the edge of the burn, however, farther up, 

 there were five very good stags, and a herd of about thirty 

 deer, on the slope of the north brae. All round us the 

 ground was covered with hinds, for the prevalence of the 

 westerly wind during the last few days had drawn the 

 deer to that end of the forest. Upon the spot where I lay, 

 though I could only see a portion of the field, I counted 

 four hundred and seventy ; and it was evident that no 

 movement could be made upon that side. We tried again 

 the opposite side of the knoll ; the hind which we had first 

 seen was still in the same place, but she had lain down her 

 head, and showed only the gray line of her back over the 

 heather. We drew ourselves cautiously up the slope and 

 looked over the summit. On the other side there was a 

 small, flat moss, about seventy yards in breadth ; then an- 

 other hillock ; and to the left two more, with little levels, 

 and wet, grassy hollows between them. Upon the side of 

 the first knoll there were two young stags and some hinds ; 

 but the points of some good horns showed above the crest. 

 The intervening ground was spotted with straggling hinds, 

 and we might lay where we were till to-morrow morning 

 without a chance of getting near any of the good deer. 



11. While we deliberated, MacLellan thought that, by 

 crawling with extreme caution up a wet hollow to the left, 

 we might have a chance to approach the stags whose horns 

 we had seen behind the other knoll, and, as nothing better 

 could be done, we decided upon this attempt. The sun 

 was going down from the old towers of Auchandun, and 

 we had no more time than would give light for this ven- 

 ture. We slid away toward the hollow, and, drawing our- 

 selves inch by inch through the heather and tall, thin grass, 

 had reached the middle of the level between the hillocks, 



