y to be encountered by
another, and yet without meeting a single deer; when, at length, the
faint blast of a horn was heard far above our heads in the distance,
and presently a noble stag was seen to ascend a ledge of rocks
immediately in front of us. To raise my gun to my shoulder and fire was
the work of a moment, after which we all followed in pursuit. On
reaching the spot where the deer had first been seen, we observed
traces of blood, satisfying us he had been wounded; but the course
taken in his flight was one that seemed to defy every human effort to
follow in. It was a narrow pointed ledge, ascending boldly towards a
huge cliff that projected frowningly from the extreme summit, and on
either side lay a dark, deep, and apparently fathomless ravine; to look
even on which was sufficient to appal the stoutest heart, and unnerve
the steadiest brain. For me, however, long accustomed to dangers of the
sort, it had no terror. This was a position in which I had often wished
once more to find myself placed, and I felt buoyant and free as the
deer itself I intended to pursue. In vain did my companions (and your
father was one) implore me to abandon a project so wild and hazardous.
I bounded forward, and they turned shuddering away, that their eyes
might not witness the destruction that awaited me. Meanwhile, balancing
my long gun in my upraised hands, I trod the dangerous path with a
buoyancy and elasticity of limb, a lightness of heart, and a
fearlessness of consequences, that surprised even myself. Perhaps it
was to the latter circumstance I owed my safety, for a single doubt of
my security might have impelled a movement that would not have failed
to have precipitated me into the yawning gulf below. I had proceeded in
this manner about five hundred yards, when I came to the termination of
the ledge, from the equally narrow transverse extremity of which
branched out three others; the whole contributing to form a figure
resembling that of a trident. Pausing here for a moment, I applied the
hunting horn, with which I was provided, to my lips. This signal,
announcing my safety, was speedily returned by my friends below in a
cheering and lively strain, that seemed to express at once surprise and
satisfaction; and inspirited by the sound, I prepared to follow up my
perilous chase. Along the ledge I had quitted I had remarked occasional
traces where the stricken deer had passed; and the same blood-spots now
directed me at a poin