Now take me
back to Castle Ranza by the nearest way."
Allan then turned and led the way across the eastern shoulder of the
mountain and down a wild ravine towards Glen Catacol. In the bed of the
ravine there coursed a turbulent torrent, swollen by the rains of the
night before. They walked along a narrow goat track from which the rocky
ground sloped sharply downward into the stream. From beyond a turning in
this path they heard the swelling roar of a waterfall.
Scarce had they made this turning, when, above the noise of the
cataract, they heard the yelping of a deer hound. Kenric was now in
advance of his companion, and they were just above the point where the
waterfall turned over into a deep chasm.
"A stag! a stag!" cried Kenric as he promptly took an arrow and fixed it
to his bowstring.
Allan followed his example. Kenric knelt down on one knee and levelled
his arrow. Allan made ready to shoot over Kenric's shoulder. A noble
stag, with wide-spreading antlers of twelve points, seemed almost to be
flying towards them along the narrow path. An arrow was half buried in
his bleeding flank; a pair of shaggy deer hounds were behind in mad pursuit.
"Now!" cried Kenric.
The bowstrings twanged, and the two arrows speeding in their deadly
flight plunged side by side into the stag's broad chest. The noble
animal stumbled, regained his footing, and ran on.
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