A GOOD DAY IN THE FOREST 75 
Before we could get within shot of him he 
had passed this point we were making for. As 
soon as he got within sixty to seventy yards 
of the black stag, who was waiting and every 
now and then roaring defiantly in answer to his 
challenge, the latter seemed suddenly to realise 
that the contest would be hopeless and turned 
tail and bolted ignominiously, being pursued only 
for a short distance by his adversary, who then 
rounded up the hinds and drove them off. 
But to return to my story. We tried to stalk 
the victorious stag, which seemed to be the best 
beast in the herd, but found it extraordinarily 
difficult to get within shot of him. There always 
seemed to be several hinds in the way, and, as it 
was now getting towards two o'clock, we decided 
to have luncheon, in the hope that in the meantime 
the deer would settle down, and that we should 
then have a chance at the stag we were after. We 
did not waste any time over lunch and very soon 
again had the deer in view. They were still on 
the move and we followed them for some time. 
The stag which we were after, which we made out 
to be a nine-pointer, was evidently much troubled 
by two other stags only a little smaller than him- 
self, and presently, after chasing away first one 
