resort of various sea-fowl and shore-birds, | feature, offering a favorite covert to black while the low projecting reefs, natural game and caillie, and deep lairs to the cairns, and detached miniature islets are deer. haunted by a tribe of otters of unusual size. A skin that I obtained last year measures four feet eight inches from tip of tail to snout, and this I take to be considerably over the average dimensious of these animals. The otters seem to live almost entirely in the sea, but occasionally travel up the few brooks which descend from the high levels of the island. There is to me a great pleasure in wandering along this kind of quiet deeply indented beach, where the green of the land approaches so closely to the salt water, and all nature verges on the amphibious. North of the isthmus, the larger division of the island with which we are chiefly concerned, rises gradually to a plateau of bare moor and a single conical hill of about fifteen hundred feet in height, and faces the south with a long unbroken range of perpendicular inlaid cliffs crowned by woods of Scotch fir. Only at two points is it possible to surmount by steep deer-passes the great continuous wall of limestone once, no doubt, washed by the sea and avoid the long tramp necessary to turn its extremities. On approaching its base through the comparatively level belt of forest between it and the beach, we enter a labyrinthine region of enormous mossgrown boulders and giant tree stems, in dark weather an oppressively sombre and silent solitude, but full of warmth and beauty when the midday sun strikes into its recesses, bringing out in gleams the varied tints of fern and moss, of boulder and bark, while the face of the colossal rock-rampart above shines, broadly luminous, through the distorted upper limbs and dark foliage of the firs. Here, too, we shall find the black mouth of more than one cavern, piercing the base of the mountain, and to be explored with safety only by the aid of torches. The stately Scotch firs are a remarkable feature in the island, many of them being of magnificent girth and growth. As timber trees they are more valuable, as picturesque objects more agreeable, and as covert greatly preferable to the ordinary spruce-pine of central Norway, inasmuch as they generally grow less closely together, and being often bare of branches to a considerable height, permit the eye - it may be behind a rifle-sight to travel for a long distance under their shade. In some of the sheltered glens the columnar trunks shoot upwards from dense thickets of tall juniper, whose luxuriant growth is another special It is obvious that in an island which is more or less thickly covered with trees, and where the rock formation runs chiefly in parallel ridges with narrow dells between, the telescope and field-glass, so valuable to the Scotch stalker, are comparatively useless. The sportsman should always carry one or the other, because by its aid he can frequently decide in the partial obscurity of the wood the character of some doubtful object, and because he may now and then find himself in some clear, elevated position, whence he can search a portion of subjacent forest; but they are not, as a rule, of much utility in finding deer in woodlands. It is also obvious that in such wooded rocky ground, it is easy enough, even when paying every attention to wind and tracks, and all that a hunter ought to notice, to pass by deer concealed in the hollows, or to suddenly come upon and disturb them. It is, I imagine, this difficulty in finding the deer which induces sportsmen in other islands to resort so much to the practice of having them driven up to butts; a deadly way, no doubt, of securing the stags, and all very well now and then, but I fancy I am justified in saying, a somewhat clumsy method as compared with stalking of any kind. Impressed with these ideas, I resolved to try whether the elk-dog could not be used successfully to find red-deer, and last autumn took my little hound Huy with me to Skarsö; and also that staunch henchmen and excellent companion, Nils, whose name must be by this time tolerably familiar to readers of the Fortnightly. And so it came about that on a bright, frosty morning early in October last, we three were crossing the small extent of cultivated land belonging to the farm of Kalveland, our headquarters, in the usual high spirits and sanguine frame of mind produced by the first day of any kind of chase. For more than a whole month, ever since September the first, when the season began, we had been expected in the island, but sport of other kind had detained us elsewhere. The rocky ridges which radiate from the central chain of hills taper gradually down towards the coast, and, as a rule, end abruptly somewhat short of it. Between these natural fences the ground is fairly level, and has, by years of industry, been converted into tolerable pasture and cornland. The farmer finds it necessary to guard the latter from the attacks of the deer by means of long wires stretched on poles across the little wooded gullies down which the marauders are in the habit of descending to their evening or morning foray. He has, moreover, by law, the right of lying in wait for and shooting, at any season, any deer, either stag or hind, which does damage to the cropsa right which is, of course, liable to abuse by unscrupulous proprietors, who may leave a worthless patch of barley or oats standing for this especial purpose. But although the Norwegian agriculturist has a shrewd eye to every possible chance of gain, he will, as a rule, deal fairly by those who deal fairly by him, and few lessees who object to the deer being occasionally shot in this fashion will grumble, in the case of proven serious damage, at the notion of fair compensation. The present law permits two stags to be killed on each holding, and forbids altogether the shooting of hinds by the ordinary sportsman; but I understand that in consequence of the notoriously large excess of female over male deer the law, as regards the islands, is likely to be altered forthwith, and that next season the legal allowance will be one of each sex. If the shooter be desirous of sparing the hinds, he will thus be limited to the single stag. As we rounded the first spur of rock, close to the house, and came in sight of the stubble just beyond, a pack of half a hundred black-cock rose from the field, and settled leisurely on a bare hillock at no great distance, whence with craning necks they watched Our movements. "Those fellows know very well we are not after them to-day," was Nils's remark; "but they are not so safe as they think." And perhaps in both of our hearts was a half wish to drop a bullet amongst the handsome uniforms of that dark battalion -the life-guards blue of game birds. But the temptation was soon forgotten as we left the clearing behind, and began to work our way through the belt of forest between the cliffs and the sea. We adopted the same order of march as in elk-hunting. Huy, in his harness, ambled airily in the van; then came Nils holding the leader, and judiciously steering the dog in a long slant across the broken ground of the woodland, so as to give him the full advantage of the wind; in the rear myself. In this fashion we proceeded for a couple of hours, quartering the ground, until we began to near the boulder region close beneath the great limestone precipice, but although we found in several places fairly fresh tracks at which the dog sniffed en couragingly, no certain sign did he betray that there were deer in the flesh ahead of him, despite the strong sea-breeze which swept all the range of low woodland, and gave constant occupation to his quivering nostrils. We therefore decided to fall back and make for the sæter, whence we could turn the end of the main cliff, and gain the wooded slopes on the higher level. The farmer had warned us that the neighborhood of the dairy was most likely ground for deer, and asserted that they were in the habit of feeding night and morning on the grass of its enclosure. This pleasant oasis we reached after following for some distance the course of a small stream, which with lilliputian cascades and pools aped delightfully the features of a salmon river, and enlivened, with its sparkle and music, the solemnity of a deep, narrow glen faced on either side with fir-clad, rocky terraces. On the incline of the hill above this brook lay the sæter, open to the morning sun, and conspicuous from a long distance as a bright green patch among dark, surrounding woods; a couple of acres of steep sward within a ring of rude but strong fencing, a cattle-shed, a small barn full of hay, and a dwelling-hut. But poor places are these Scandinavian sæters, yet I shall ever regard them with gratitude. With how many delightful rambles are they associated in my mind, with how many hours of shelter, warmth, and rest, granted when most needed to the weary or belated wanderer! The first glance at the turf showed that the farmer was right; several deer had been there often, and quite recently. But after patiently trying to decipher the confused markings which were everywhere conspicuous, we came to the conclusion that but few of them were caused by stags. Then we made the circuit of the fence, and discovered that the deer were in the habit of leaping it at more than one point, going and coming by different routes. Huy's most deliberate and intelligent investigation of all these details was clearly satisfactory to him, and on our sitting down to consult, he testified by the ghost of a whine his impatience and desire to be moving. When permitted, he jumped off with the lead at the full length of his tether, scrambled over the fence, and began to strain through the wood right up-wind towards the edge of the cliff. So vigorous, indeed, was his advance, that more than once I had to murmur to Nils to moderate the pace. At such a time, when the dog is beginning to pull, it is impossible to go too slowly or cautiously. Many hunters make the mistake of suffer- | was some reason for such wonder. From ing themselves to be dragged along in a way that renders it difficult to plant their feet noiselessly. With an eager dog, the only plan is to hold him short and lean back, and stop frequently to listen or reconnoitre. He should always wear harness, with a broad band across the chest, and the leading-strap fastened to a ring or buckle between the shoulders. The ordinary collar round the neck chokes him, and causes him to puff like a steamengine. 66 the spot where we stood there appeared to be a sheer descent of some hundreds of feet to the tree-tops below; it is true that jutting points of rock and overhanging bushes prevented our obtaining a positively clear view of what was immediately underneath us. But on the right the cliff curved apparently without a break until it resumed the straight line, and trended away from us in interminable, foreshortened perpendicularity. We had no reason for suspecting any interruption in its sheer fall. It was not until some days later, when gazing upwards from the lower forest, that I discovered its face at this point, although terribly steep, to be broken by connected grass slopes and terraces, capable of supporting large trees. I have no doubt that the stag slipped over the edge and descended by this natural ladder, but at the time his evasion was inexplicable. Huy appeared to be as much puzzled as we were; he stood on a projecting slab, gazing into space, and snuffing up the air from the abyss, but I believe that in his heart the little dog knew exactly the truth of the matter; neither to right nor left would he take up the scent, and had we loosed him would probably have shown us the way down without hesitation. Certain as we were that deer were directly ahead, we did not much trouble ourselves to examine the ground for tracks; but after we had travelled for about half a mile, and were so near the cliff that we could see the brushwood on its edge cutting the distant landscape, I noticed in glancing down a large slot on some soft soil, and halted for an instant to inspect it; in that instant Nils advanced a few yards; I looked up again, saw that he also was examining the track, and at the same moment caught sight over his bent head of a fox-red patch on the bank of a snug hollow about a hundred yards off. A deer lying down! not a doubt of it! Ah! it was too late; before I could raise my rifle and warn Nils, the stag saw him, sprang from his heathery couch in Our present elevation commanded a haste," displaying his broad antlers, in very fine view over the neighboring islands one bound cleared the hillock under which and fjords, and the precipitous fjelds of he was lying, and disappeared instantane- the mainland, now covered with fresh ously in the wood behind it. It was all snow, and showing like a lofty range of over in a moment, and the admirable Huy Alps. But the wind was keen, and I was had exhibited his intelligence and wood- hungry; I proposed that we should search craft in vain. Of small avail was it to for some sheltered nook with water handy, demonstrate to Nils how easily I could and there eat our lunch. With some have crawled to within a few yards of the trouble, after making a long circuit round stag, if only we had caught a glimpse of the bend of the cliff, we discovered on him before he saw us. But we had one lower ground the very place we wanted, a consolation, that in finding woodland deer dry bank, screened from the wind by a the elk-hound was a distinct success. Un-ledge of rock and fully exposed to the sun. der such circumstances one must make the A tiny, ice-cold rivulet trickled at our feet best of poor comfort. Again we debated what to do; we were within fifty yards of the cliff edge. "Shall we see where he go, sir?" inquired Nils. There might possibly be other deer in the same line, and willing to improve my knowledge of the country, I consented. We had not far to go ourselves before we ascertained where the deer had gone. We followed the track for a few hundred yards parallel to the precipice, and then, when the cliff took an abrupt, sweeping curve to the right, it led us clean up to the very brink, where it of course disappeared. "I do not know much about red-deer," said Nils, "but I wonder if they can fly." There and served to dilute the contents of the whiskey-flask. Over the subsequent pipe we decided to try our luck at a yet higher level, where the growth of Scotch fir ceased and the crest of the hill rose bare above thickets of stunted birch and mountain ash. In half an hour we were again afoot. Not until we faced the breeze, well out on the open moor, did Huy show any indications of having caught scent. Then he began to stop at intervals and throw his nose up and his head back until his ears almost touched his quarters; pressing forward after each halt with greater eagerness. Very steadily now, Nils, there must be deer on the hillside in front, or in the ravine under it." The said ravine, | we stepped out briskly right across it, rea shallow gully or trench, itself overgrown gardless of wind, and simply determined with bushes, divided the moor from the to see what lay on the other side, for I brush wood-clad slope mentioned above. had forgotten the features of the island in Between us and it ran several parallel ribs that direction. A single covey of willow of rock, over which we crept with exceed-grouse, a few black game, a pair of whiteing care, taking advantage of perched tailed eagles wheeling at a great height, boulders or cross fissures filled with and a fox, were the only living creatures heather; in the intervening hollows we we met with. From the farther edge of were well concealed. Huy became at last the moor we looked down into a broad, so keenly demonstrative, snapping his deep glen, with wooded sides and a flat, teeth and showing symptoms of what Nils swampy bottom cut by the silver thread calls "whistling," that I directed the latter of a small stream. At its upper extremity to lie down with the dog, whilst I crawled a gloomy little tarn nestled under grey on alone to the crest of the last ridge. crags. It looked a likely place for deer, Here I got out my field-glasses and peeped and we determined to explore its recesses over. I at once detected with the naked before long, but the afternoon was begineye an object moving among the bushes ning to wane, and we were forced to turn near the edge of the gully, which on exam- our steps towards home, arriving again at ination with the glass proved to be a very the sæter on our way just at that hour of large hind. Shortly after a second deer, fading light when the woods looked most also a bind, stalked out of the thicket and solemn and mysterious. As we halted calmly surveyed the landscape, little sus- within the enclosure Huy suddenly faced pecting what bloodthirsty eyes were upon the gentle air which was now stirring, aud her. Then, as I lay, I beckoned to Nils, began to sniff demonstratively. "Perhaps who sneaked up to me and with much sat- there is some deer coming," whispered isfaction took his turn at the glasses. But Nils; "we might go into the cattle-shed few Norwegians, except those who live on and watch; we shall see if there are any or near the islands, have ever seen a red more stags about." The insidious whisdeer, and Nils was always greatly struck per fell upon willing ears; in another with the beauty and symmetry of their minute we had ensconced ourselves noiseproportions as compared with those of the lessly in the cold, dark building, and were elk. Our hope naturally was that a stag peering, through the round air-holes cut would put in an appearance, and for an in its timbers, down the slope of the enhour we crawled and waited and watched closure. Sure enough, before long some but all in vain. The hinds when first deer did come. All at once, like a ghost, seen were about three hundred yards away, and busily engaged in feeding up the side of the gully. The line of this, as it narrowed, and that of the rock-ridge on our side, gradually converged, so that when the deer reached a little patch of green grass, no doubt due to a spring at the end of the ravine, they were within easy shot, and our disappointment at there not being a stag with them was the greater. There was no use in disturbing them, but the opportunity was good for testing Huy's steadiness; so before quitting our ambush we hoisted the hound up between us on to the rock and let him view the deer. He fixed them in a moment; his ears cocked, his eyes glistened, his lip curled above his fangs, the coil of his tail tightened until it was fit to snap, but he remained perfectly mute, and never stirred an inch until we took him down again. The deer did not notice his grey rigidity. Admirable Huy! Once more our consolation under disappointment was his excellence as a stalker. And now, after searching the moor carefully with the glass and finding nothing, a great gaunt hind appeared in the middle of the green - I declare I do not know whence she came and up to her, as she stood motionless, there glided two other phantoms. Three long-legged apparitions! sudden, noiseless, and hornless! And here I pause to notice a question which I feel sure will be asked: What did you propose to do, or what would you have done, had one of the spectres not been without horns? I must decline to answer; I am not in any way bound to commit myself. For all incidents as set forth in this article I am responsible, but with those that are purely speculative, such as might have occurred, I have nothing to do. Need I point out that by a few strokes of my pen I could convert one of the hinds into a stag, and gain much credit for chivalrous and sportsmanlike conduct. The situation would be far more dramatic; the monarch of the glen appears at last, the author magnanimously spares him! But I am not for the present a writer of fiction. The three unsuspecting females - but here I may be wrong, for one of the trio was only a calf, but let | next farm, Torset, which lies at the narthe point pass-having assured them selves that all was safe, began to feed; and we watched them until it was too dark to see the sight of a- I mean the sight of the innocent creatures in their native freedom; and then prepared to slink out of the back of the premises and be off. But some slight sound we made caught the quick ear of the old hind, who had more than once regarded the cattle-shed with an air of mistrust, and after a long gaze, which may have revealed to her the shadowy face of an Englishman looking through a hole, she trotted slowly to the fence, cleared it and vanished. Her young companions, no doubt surprised at this abrupt and apparently causeless exit, and loth to leave their supper, lingered behind, whereat she gave utter ance to a series of short barks, which rang through the wood like pistol-shots, and must have told any deer within a mile that there was mischief abroad. I can only say that if and I lay great stress on the hypothetical particle - if I and Nils entered that shed with any murderous or poacherous intent we amply atoned for it during the next two hours, for we last our way in the darkness, floundered into bogs, tumbled into water-holes, broke our shins over boulders, and knocked our heads against trees, eventually reaching Kalveland - I must speak for myself, for Nils is always cheery and never tiredin a dilapidated condition of mind and body. But in Norway one soon recovers from one's dilapidations. Once more we three are starting from the house at Kalveland, bent upon the chase of the stag, and full of fresh hope. The weather and the wind have changed, and the day is the reverse of bright and frosty. It has rained all night, as it rained all yesterday, when the hill was impossible owing to the dense mist, and we were compelled to keep to the ground below the cliff, where Huy patiently led us in amongst the grim shades and piled boulders of that weird region, and right up to the lurking-place of a huge solitary hind always a hind! - who sprang up from her lair on the top of a flat ledge, within easy distance and with a clatter worthy of a lordly stag. And now the sky is of a uniform dreary grey, and heavy clouds capping the summits of the hill threaten a recurrence of the mist and rain. But still, as I say, we set forth full of fresh hope and enthusiA boy who came over early in the morning with a supply of eggs from the asm. rowest point of the sound between Skarsö and the mainland, has reported that several deer, with at least one stag amongst them, were seen yesterday in the steep woods overhanging the beach. There is a sæter belonging to that farm, and it is probable that the deer will remain somewhere in its vicinity, for the sake of the feed. The ground I know pretty well, as in the old days we used to search it for black-game and caillie; it is awkward to hunt, being broken up into very narrow gorges and dells, divided by very steep banks and rocky knolls, all thickly clothed with wood, and it is impossible to calculate how the wind may be blowing among their intricacies. But we mean to put our trust in Huy and do our best; and, in addition, to make a long circuit, including a visit to a small lake, celebrated among the natives for the number, size, and quality of its trout, but in which I have never had the opportunity of casting line. It is the one chance for the angler that our island affords, for the other tarns are said to be fishless, and there is not a brook large enough to hold aught but the most dimin. utive troutling. To-day I shall at least see the lake, a sight always a gratification in itself, and perchance another year I may manage to visit it earlier in the season with a rod. We must of necessity travel down wind for a long distance, one way or the other, during the day, and we prefer to do so at starting, so that while working back towards home we may be sustained by hope to the very finish, and avoid the despondent weariness and demoralization apt to be begotten by a long tramp with a certainty of failure; by deliberately playing a losing game, by perpetrating a continuous blunder, by pursuing of free-will the chase of the phantom wild goose — in short, by trying to approach wild creatures down-wind. "Nils, we must get a stag to-day." Despite his sanguine nature, Nils replies cautiously: I hope we shall, sir. I am afraid there is not a great many of them about; but the boy says he is sure there is one or two on Torset." And then he goes on to tell me that the man who cuts firewood was in the kitchen last night, and had given him directions how to find a certain pass among the crags, used habitually by the deer, and likely to serve us as a short cut to the higher level of the island. Accordingly, after a time, we discover this staircase, which, without some guidance or knowledge of its whereabouts, might be easily overlooked and passed by. The |