It was scarce daylight when I took my weapons and went to pay another visit to the rutting stags, John accompanying me. The morning was cool, and the dew lay in heavy pearls on grass and stones, the valleys below us were still veiled in mist, and large white clouds hung on the hill-sides. We reached the spot where I had shot the stags, and heard thence the roars of the animals echoing through the valleys. They were standing, however, rather higher up the stream, as they probably remembered my last night's visit. We pressed through the tall ferns, from which the dew dripped upon us like rain, and reached a plateau that hung over a dizzy precipice. Here stood the game, and nearest to us an old stag, which had its proud antlers thrown back, its thick swollen neck outstretched, and was roaring furiously. All around the other stags responded from the hills, and we listened for a long time to the concert of these jealous lovers ere we thought of hunting them. As it was the first giant stag John had had a chance of firing at, I readily granted him the first shot, and allowed him to stalk the stag. The majestic animal, hit by my comrade's deadly bullet, fell on its knee in the midst of a roar, raised its head once or twice, and then fell lifeless on the scanty grass that covered the rock. John could not master his delight, and ran up to the stag, by doing which he put an end to our sport here for this morning, as all the deer flew at the sight of him. The stag had six-and-twenty tines, and a pair of colossal antlers, whose ends were like shovels. We broke it up, threw the paunch over the precipice, and hoisted John's white handkerchief near it in order to keep beasts of prey aloof. It was still very early, the first sunbeams were just illumining the highest points of the steep precipice on the opposite side of the abyss on which we were standing, and the cool breeze was too refreshing for us to think of hurrying back to camp. We followed the plateau therefore, from which the opposite one continually retired, until the gorge widened into a rocky glen, from which colossal masses of stone rose in wild confusion. Far down the valley, at the point where it trended to the east, round the opposite hill side, we distinctly noticed a path which ran along the base of the mountains, and was probably the continuation of the one on which we were camped. As we still heard numerous stags roaring we advanced till we were able to look down into the valley on the east, and follow our path for a long distance through it. We stopped to gaze at the wondrous forms of the mountains. I took out my telescope, looked at the path, and saw a long way off dark forms moving among the rocks, which I soon discovered to be a large party of horse Indians. No doubt but the path they were marching along was ours, and they would be in our camp in less than an hour, while we had a good half hour's walk to it. We therefore turned and hurried at full speed to join our friends.