THE SURGEON OF THE DEER FOREST 209 
and said, " You'll never see him again, sir. I 
never touched him." 
It was almost dark, and we started on our 
homeward journey along the narrow foot-track 
through the forest. Sandy asked me to walk 
first so that I could go at my own pace. He 
followed me, and behind him came the gillie, there 
being only room to walk in single file. It is not 
easy to carry on a conversation with any one who 
is walking behind, nor did the fact that I felt 
very depressed at having left the wounded stag in 
suffering, perhaps to die a painful, lingering death, 
make it any easier. At first I made an occasional 
observation and then lapsed into silence. As I 
was walking along engrossed in my melancholy 
thoughts I noticed that the path was becoming 
more and more difficult to see, and indeed hardly 
visible in the growing darkness. 
I said, " It's getting awfully dark, and I can 
hardly see the path." No answer. I turned 
round : neither of the men was to be seen. I 
stopped and shouted loudly, "Sandy!" Still 
no answer. This I repeated several times with 
the same result. I then began to think what I 
had better do. It was almost dark by this time. 
I was in the heart of one of the largest forests in 
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