84 British Deer and their Horns 
enough to feel that I could wait for a week if necessary. Retracing, therefore, our steps 
along the ridge, we moved downward to a position some distance below the sky-line, and 
considerably above the spot where the stags were now peacefully browsing. Some big 
boulders projecting over the corrie afforded us both shelter and a coign of vantage from 
which we could observe every movement on the part of the deer ; so there we rested for a 
while to enjoy the scene. And now the leading stag, a splendid old fellow over 16 stone, 
dropped on his knees and lay down, and his example being followed by the whole herd, 
nothing could be seen over the long grass where they were but a series of brown necks 
surmounted by a small forest of horns. Now when a stag lies down, it may be from one hour 
to three before he moves again ; so after waiting for more than two hours we came to the 
conclusion that these, at any rate, intended to take their maximum of repose ; and during 
this long, and somewhat chilly wait, we overhauled the merits of the herd. There were 
certainly six good io-pointers amongst them, and at least one Royal, but the stag that had 
engrossed our attention from the first had by far the best head amongst them, though in point 
of size he looked rather small in comparison with some of his comrades. The more I looked 
at him, the more I longed to call him mine. I told Grant, quite seriously, I would give 
half-a-year’s pay to get a good chance at this particular stag, upon which he opened his 
eyes in amazement at such wild extravagance, his idea being, no doubt, that a subaltern in 
Her Majesty’s service must needs be right handsomely remunerated for his services. 
All this time the sun was sinking lower and lower, and the air every moment turning 
more chilly. Still the stags showed not the slightest disposition to move, and I now saw 
that Grant was wrong in thinking, as he did at first, that they would return to their former 
position, and that unless he tried at once what he had previously hinted at as a “ desperate ” 
alternative, all chance of a shot would be gone. He then proceeded to unfold his plan, as 
follows. Three passes well known to him were used by the deer in journeying to and fro 
between Larig Dochart and Altahourn, and by one of these they would certainly retreat if 
disturbed by the appearance of a man at the foot of the corrie. The main pass, faintly 
discernible as it wound in and out of thte rocks at our feet, ran in our direction, and the 
game, if skilfully “ moved,” would probably endeavour to escape that way. If not, we 
might still intercept them by hard running, in either of the other passes, which ran 
respectively to right and left of us about 500 yards away. 
A few words in Gaelic to Donald, the gillie, and away he went by a circuitous route 
to the foot of the corrie, there to show himself for a moment and instantly disappear from 
view. This, as all stalkers know, has a most terrifying effect on deer. If an intruder stands 
and looks at them from a distance, or walks quietly by, they will stop and gaze at him, 
with probably more interest than alarm ; but an object that vanishes the moment they look 
at it suggests such terrible things that off they go in a panic for—“ anywhere, anywhere, out 
of the world.” 
Half an hour elapsed, during which a sharp shower of sleet paid us a visit, and then 
the rising of a covey of ptarmigan from the burn-side below told us that the gillie was pretty 
near to his work. A moment later every stag was on his feet gazing anxiously down-hill at 
the spot where he had appeared, and all sense of the discomfort we had undergone was lost 
in eager speculation as to the line they would take. Grant seized the rifle, and I my stick 
