82 AMID THE HIGH HILLS 
Far more serious than the accident which I 
have described was one which occurred several 
years ago, recorded by a former neighbour of 
mine in the north, the owner of a well-known 
deer forest. I give the story in his own words, 
as well as I can remember. " It was late one day 
in the forest of Fannich, where I was stalking as 
the guest of one of my relatives who was at that 
time a tenant of the forest. After a long and 
difficult stalk, I had succeeded in getting up to 
the stag and shot it. The stalker, Duncan, an 
excellent man of long experience, approached the 
animal to give it the coup de g?^dce, and, with his 
open knife in his right hand, seized one of the 
stag's forelegs with his left. Instantly the stag 
gave a tremendous plunge and threw Duncan 
back. The knife went into Duncan's thigh, and 
he bled profusely. Both of us made frantic 
efforts to stop the bleeding, but without avail. 
The gillie, who was behind, came up, and we did 
all we could, but having no medical training, or 
even a knowledge of first aid, were unable to 
render useful assistance. Duncan got weaker 
and fainter, and was apparently bleeding to death. 
He was, however, perfectly cool and collected, 
said there was no one to blame but himself, 
