A GOOD DAY IN THE FOREST 79 
there, I pushed the barrels of my rifle over the 
top of the hillock and slowly raised my head. The 
stag was standing nearly broadside on, looking 
straight at me. I fired. There was a thud as the 
bullet struck him, and he turned and galloped off, 
disappearing round a corner of the hill. I felt 
confident that the bullet had gone home ; and we 
found the stag, who had been, as I thought, shot 
through the heart, lying dead about sixty yards 
from the place where he had been standing w^ien 
I fired at him. He was a ten-pointer, and had a 
fine wide head with a good horn, and when we 
got him home we found, curiously enough, that 
his weight was exactly the same as that of the 
first stag that I had shot — 15 stone clean. 
Leaving the gillie to gralloch the stag, 
Maclennan and I now proceeded homewards, 
keeping a sharp look-out, and presently we saw 
a considerable number of stags, which were moving 
across the valley from one hill to another. We 
saw that if they were not disturbed they would 
probably cross a little hill not far from us, at a 
point from which we could, if we moved quickly, 
get to within shooting distance. So, running 
and walking quickly, we reached a spot about 140 
to 150 yards from the point at which we expected 
