earance of the
phantom stag. "Ay, I hef known them rin a long weh after being
wounded--miles and miles they will go--but this wan wass so hard hit, I
thought he would drop directly. The teffle tek him--I could hef given
him the other barrel myself!"

And still they seemed loath to leave the ground, notwithstanding the
gathering darkness. They kept wandering about, examining and searching;
until it was quite obvious that even if the stag were lying within easy
distance of them they could hardly distinguish it; so finally they
withdrew, beaten and baffled, and made away down to the lower country,
where the old pony Maggie was probably wondering at their unusual length
of absence.

That was a sombre ride home. It was now raining heavily; and all the
night seemed to be filled with a murmuring of streams and a moaning of
winds among the invisible hills. Roderick walked by the pony's head; and
Lionel could just make him out, and no more, so pitch dark it was. Of
course he had no idea of the route he was taking or of the nature of the
ground they were getting over; but he could guess from Maggie's cautious
steps when they were going over rough places, or he could hear the
splash of her feet when they were crossing a swamp. Not a word was
uttered; no doubt all the forester's attention was bent on making out a
path; while as for Lionel, he was too wet and cold and miserable to
think of talking to anybody. If he had certainly known that somewhere or
other he had left up there a stag, which they could bring down in the
morning, that would have consoled him somewhat; but it was just as
likely as not that all this privation and fatigue had been endured for
nothing. As they trudged along through the gloomy night, the rain fell
more heavily than ever, and the bitter wind seemed to search out every
bone in his body.

And then when at length they came within sound of the Geinig, that was
no longer a friendly voice welcoming them back to more familiar
regions; it was an angry and threatening roar; he could see nothing; he
could only imagine the wild torrent hurling along through this black
desolation.

"Look here, Roderick," he said, "mind you keep away from that river. If
we should stumble down one of the steep banks, we should never be heard
of again."

"Oh, ay, we're a long distance from the ruvver? and it is as well to
keep aweh; for if we were to get into the Geinig to-night, we would be
tekken down like straws."

And how w