A STORMY WEEK IN THE FOREST 99 
wind was so strong that one could hardly stand, 
it was quite impossible to keep a cap on one's 
head, and it rained or hailed incessantly. At last 
we got round, and went down to the lower ground ; 
we then managed, with a good deal of difficulty, 
to crawl safely past the hinds, and found that the 
other lot of deer were moving slowly, feeding 
downwards. After a time the deer lay down on 
a small hill in a sheltered place, and we crawled up 
to the top of an adjoining hill about 140 yards 
distant. We there made out that there was one 
good stag, an eight-pointer, who was lying down, 
and whose horns only could be seen from the 
place where we were lying. I got into position 
to shoot in case the stag should rise and give 
me a chance. It was now about half-past five, 
and we thought, considering how late it was 
getting and the conditions of the weather, that 
we should not be kept waiting very long. The 
stag, however, did not move for about half an 
hour, when he got up and turned round, and 
immediately lay down again. Time went on, and 
what with the cold and wet I began to shiver, and 
felt that I must do something to alter the con- 
dition of things. It w^as close on 6.30, and we 
were five miles from the point where it had been 
