seventy hinds* I had never before seen two master stags in that attitude, and the sight was
indeed a grand one, for the corrie was full o f deer. One o f these stags, an 11-pointer,
seemed anxious to fight, but was so worried with the importunities o f igputlying
cavaliers that it was as much as he could do to keep his wives together. At last he could
stand it no longer, so, to get ready for business, he rounded up his fair ones with almost the
dexterity o f a collie collecting sheep, and drove them before him out o f the corrie. Now
was my chance, suggested M ‘Leish, it I cared to risk a moving shot at the n-pointer
instead o f firing at an old stag lying some 70 yards below us in the most tempting position;
and as the herd disappeared from view my companion pointed out the rock under which
they would pass. A quick run along the hill-side soon brought me there, and, looking over
the edge, I saw the whole herd rushing down the hill-and spreading out like an open fan.
That is not the sort of shot that I care about, or could often expect to make successfully;
but the fickle goddess was kind that day, and at the touch
o f my trigger the big stag showed he was hit, as with
laboured efforts he left the hinds, and, turning back, made
for the stream at the foot o f the corrie. Seeing how matters
stood, M'Leish at once despatched his little collie, who
went yapping down the hill to bay the stag and bring
matters to a conclusion. But presently the doggie stopped,
and when I arrived breathless he was sitting contentedly gazing into a turbid pool where
the waters were foaming like a torrent o f Bass’s pale ale. Nothing-could be seen o f the
stag, nor should I have discovered his whereabouts had he not moved his black horns
with their gleaming points. There he was, however, hidden right under an overhanging
peat hag, with only his eyes, nose, and horns above water, and I could now claim
him as “ my beautiful, my own.” Even a practised eye might have passed the spot a
hundred times without dreaming that so large a creature could possibly be concealed
there.
T h e cunning o f an old stag is perhaps most manifest during the period when his horns
are growing. T h e animals seem to know that at this season they are safe from molestation,
for in selecting a summer lair they will frequently fix upon a place in close proximity to
the haunts o f men, and there they will make their home until the end o f the “ close ”
season, when away they go in search o f “ fresh fields and pastures new.” Often enough
their haunt will be found in a small wood or spinney near the stalker’s house, an instance
o f which is fresh in my memory. For several seasons a little fir wood about ioo yards
square, and barely 2po yards from the stalker’s house at Kiltarlity, was frequented by a very
big stag that always changed its quarters for Boblainey Wood as soon as its horns . were
A SOILING POOL
clean. Johnnie Ross (the stalker) often spoke to me o f this cunning old fellow who had
so long eluded the wiles o f his pursuers, and one evening, returning from roe-stalking, we
saw him approach the covert. A t first, when a considerable distance away, he moved with
Slow and stealthy steps, looking carefully around to see that the coast was clear, but as he
drew near he suddenly dashed down the hill at full speed and entered the wood. Ross
said that at daybreak he always left the covert in the same manner, these big stags evidently
fancying that their resting-places will not be marked i f they appear to rush past them.
A big Eskadale stag, with whom I had something more than a bowing acquaintance,
was particularly cute in his selection o f a summer home. He chose the lovely island in
the Beauly known as Ailean Aigas, and Miss Dove, who has tenanted the house for some
years, told me he came there regularly for four seasons, always leaving on the ist o f August.
T h e river rushes wildly past this exquisite little rock island, which is not many hundred
yards round, and the stag used to swim across every morning at daybreak to feed in the