XXII 
THE DEER 
221 
watching the progress of the stalk with intense 
excitement. He saw the deer fall, and was running 
towards me when the stag regained his feet; at the 
same moment he loosed the dog, and Oscar, who 
was a first-rate hound, came bounding past me with 
the game full in view. 
Whatever superiority Oscar might have pos¬ 
sessed upon level ground, was entirely lost through 
the rough nature of the country. The stag com¬ 
pletely distanced him in the race down hill; one 
hope remained, that upon reaching the peat moss 
in the bottom, the heavy soil would be against 
the deer, and the hound might recover some 
advantage. 
Hurrying at the best pace possible down the 
the steep incline, through the deep heather, 
occasionally slipping backwards over the clattering 
stones, we ran down the hill, which in ordinary 
moments would have required careful walking. 
Now, the stag was going across the deep peat moss, 
and the snow-white Oscar was a bright speck upon 
the brown surface, gaining decidedly in the race of 
life and death. Had the deer been stationary, it 
would have been difficult to have distinguished it 
upon the peat moss, which matched exactly with its 
colour; but as it sped before the dog, and became 
smaller as they both increased their distance, we 
could just determine that the stag would disappear 
from view before we should be able to reach the 
lower ground. 
This proved to be the case, and from the 
