A STORMY WEEK IN THE FOREST 105 
try the next corrie. It is difficult to imagine 
a greater contrast than the comparative warmth 
and peace which we were now enjoying as com- 
pared with the strife of the elements outside the 
corrie. The rain, too, had stopped, and I said 
to the stalker, " No wonder the deer came here ; 
what a haven of rest ! " 
We now worked our way across the ridge, and 
then spied the big corrie below. We discovered 
two lots of stags. Those in the first lot were 
moving on. The others were lying down in a 
place where they could be stalked without much 
difficulty ; we therefore crawled some 400 or 
500 yards, and, creeping cautiously up to the top 
of a little hill, saw the stags had got up and begun 
to feed. There was one quite clean about 90 
yards below us, and another also clean about 
130 yards from where we were lying. I fired at 
the near stag, who fell dead at once ; I then 
covered the other stag and pulled the second 
trigger — result a missfire. I hastily reloaded 
and fired, killing the stag. We then went down 
to the stags which I had shot. The first was a 
six-pointer, whose horns and teeth showed him 
to be an old warrior. The second, a nine-pointer, 
was a younger beast, rather heavier. Both stags 
14 
