104 AMID THE HIGH HILLS 
we worked our way up the mountain-side the 
wind became stronger and the rain heavier. It 
was intensely cold, and very difficult to see what 
was in front of us. Having arrived at the ridge, 
nearly 3000 feet up, we tried to spy the corrie 
below. What with the tremendous wind and 
driving rain this was a matter of the greatest 
difficulty, and in conditions of this kind I always 
think there is a better chance of picking up deer 
with first-rate field-glasses than with a telescope. 
I managed, wdth my field-glasses, to discover two 
stags feeding in a sheltered part of the opposite 
side of the corrie, and, after shifting our position 
in order to get a better view of them, we found 
that there were some hinds feeding below them. 
We came to the conclusion that the only chance 
of obtaining a shot at the stags was by getting 
in between them and the hinds. After some 
trouble we succeeded in doing this, but old 
Angus, who knew the corrie well, said that the 
wind at this place was very uncertain, and that 
it was a question whether the stags would not 
get our wind. He had hardly uttered this warn- 
ing before there was a fatal puff in the wrong 
direction, and away went the stags long before 
we were near them. We decided to go on and 
