102 AMID THE HIGH HILLS 
about a mile lower down the road where Stuart 
had arranged to meet us. " Well," I said, " I 
hope at any rate that Mr. Stuart has got a stag, 
if not two." The stalker had been looking care- 
fully at the road. " No," he said, " Mr. Stuart 
has no stag the day." I said, " How do you know 
that ? " " Oh," he said, pointing to the marks 
on the road, " his ponies have gone home trotting 
— look at the marks of their hoofs — and if Mr. 
Stuart had got a stag the pony would be walking." 
As soon as the car arrived we found that the 
stalker was right, and that Stuart, who had only 
arrived at our meeting-place a few minutes before, 
had got no stag, never having had a shot. On 
reaching the lodge about 8.30 p.m. we found that 
our host had not yet returned from the river, 
where he had gone to try to get a salmon, and it 
was not until an hour later that he returned. He 
too had had bad luck, having hooked a large fish 
which it was impossible to follow, and which had 
taken out in its first rush at a terrific pace some 
fifty yards of line, and then, a strain being put on, 
broke the casting line, which, it subsequently 
turned out, had been used in the spring fishing 
and had not been properly tested before being 
used again. Thus closed the third chapter in a 
