some mischance has lost the common herd; and as he gallops
along the meadows, when he finds himself alone, will stop suddenly at
times, and, placing his broad nostrils to the earth, sniff the grass
with the absorption of a huge pump; then lifting his head loftily in the
air, will lash his tail, and madly tossing his legs, roar till the
country round is filled with the sounds of his anger.

"Well, Sir," said the Norwegian, addressing me, "if we do not find the
deer near this water, I fear we shall find none to-day. It is late; and
they are gone to shelter in the forests for the night."

The last four words had not yet fallen from his lips, when a doe,
followed by her fawn, stood on the brow of the hill directly opposite to
us; and halting for a moment, moved her head up and down, scenting the
air. No sooner did the guide perceive the animal, than he tugged the
salt-bag from his belt, and, holding it in his left hand, extended it at
arm's length before him, creeping down the hillock on which we had
clustered, exclaiming,

"Kommit; salt, h-o-o-o! salt, h-o-o-o! kommit, kommit."

The deer seemed perfectly to understand his meaning, for she shook her
antlers and small tufted tail, and trotted down the other hill towards
the Norwegian. Our guide still kept moving forward by stealthy steps,
while the animal quickened its motion from a trot to a canter, and
arriving within a yard of the proffered salt-bag, made a dead stop. The
Norwegian had volunteered the promise, that if the deer turned out to be
his own, and he could lay hands on her, we should accept her as a gift.

"Kommit," said the Norwegian, in tones of gentler blandness;
"salt!--salt, h-o-o-o! kommit, kommit."

But the doe was not so easily to be entrapped; for she stretched out her
long neck as far as it would go, and then, just as her nose was so near
to the salt that its savour made her dart out her tongue and lick her
slimy nostrils, she plunged backwards as if a cannon had exploded, and
scampered half-way up the hill to her fawn. The Norwegian turned his
head and smiled with us, but would not yet despair of success.

"Kommit," still, with onward step, he said, "kommit; salt, h-o-o-o!
salt!--kommit, kommit."

The doe appeared as desirous of tasting the salt, as the Norwegian was
to give it; for she fixed her large eyes on the little moving man as he
stumbled and tottered over the uneven heath, and watching his gradual
approach, threw up her head, and stam