When the sun began to near the west I scanned the shoulder of the Farrow, about three miles away in a direct line, but five or six miles distant by the route I must follow, over the hill on which I hid, down a steep corrie, across the Sluie valley, and up the Farrow itself. If I could cross the glen without being observed it would be easy to approach my deer. I hurried on my way, trusting to the shadow of night which already filled the valley to hide me. When I came into the floor of the valley my work began. Hundreds of deer had appeared on the slope of the Farrow; they were moving slowly downhill towards the moors where they would feed all night, but I could not reckon on their arriving near me before it grew too dark to shoot. I advanced by inches over the flat in full view of any deer that chanced to look my way. I could not even risk to jump the Sluie stream which flowed across my path. I soaked myself to the skin creeping through a pool on my hands and knees, with the water round my shoulders. Eventually I came under the curve of the hill and lay a moment to rest. The climb before me was steep and the light was rapidly degenerating. I made what haste I could towards the herd I marked. When I reached the place where I saw them they were no longer there. I sat down in despair. As I looked idly across the lip of the Durc I saw a hind’s head on the far side with the eyes gazing directly at me. My first shot missed completely. I was too excited and shaken to aim straight. The second broke her shoulder. She tried to turn on the narrow ledge where she was standing. She tumbled as she put her weight on the useless leg; another shot took her in the chest and she sprang clear from her ledge, over the sheer rock, into the depths of the ravine. I could hear her body striking successive ledges and a small avalanche of stones accompanied her. Without pausing to think if the way down was practicable I rushed over the edge of the gorge and began to lower myself from boulder to boulder so that I could see where she had fallen and make sure that she was dead.