34 
WILD NOKWAY. 
But from no point could we discover an “ advan¬ 
tage” for a further advance. Three broken gullies we 
tried, but each proved useless—one turned the wrong 
way, the other two terminated less than half-way down 
the face. The ground was dangerous, since one or 
other of the widely scattered deer opposite commanded 
a full view of all the intervening slopes. A shallower 
couloir led direct towards the centre of their position, 
and at the moment no deer were in view from it. Lars 
thought this might cover an approach. I strongly 
dissented; but Lars was confident. Hardly, however, 
had we progressed a hundred yards than the horns of 
a deer on the sky-line ahead demonstrated the error in 
tactics. Before his whole head came in view we both 
lay prostrate on our backs. Fortunately a profusion 
of grass, bleaberry-ling, and scattered stones rendered 
us all but invisible; still we now lay in full view, and 
passed an uncomfortable quarter of an hour. “ Forsig- 
tig ” (be careful), Lars kept muttering, though I never 
moved a muscle, albeit a cruelly sharp stone nestled in 
the small of my back. “ Presently they will lie down,” 
whispered Lars; and presently they did, though the 
word has a relative significance. Then, by slowest 
movements, we crawled like serpents to the shelter of 
a big rock a few yards to the left. Here, at least, we 
were free to move in some limited degree; but the error 
of Lars’ tactics was even more clearly apparent, since 
we could now see that a lake intervened between us and 
our game, which would effectually have prevented our 
“ getting in” from that direction. 
The big bull, I now rejoiced to see, had joined the 
herd; the meeting, I imagine, had been quite casual. 
