# XXI: How I Stalked Wilder Game Than Deer explained — The Three Hostages

> Chapter companion for The Three Hostages by John Buchan.

## What happens

Hannay, engaged in a deadly duel with Medina on the mountain, loses his rifle ammunition after a misstep with borrowed cartridges. Using his hill-craft, he manipulates deer movements to mask his position and confronts Medina, firing a warning shot to signal acceptance of the challenge. The chapter follows his desperate stalk across the corries and ridges, culminating in a tense standoff.

## Themes in this chapter

### Psychological Warfare

Hannay and Medina engage in a tense mental duel on the mountain, each trying to outthink and outmaneuver the other.

### The Nature of Villainy

Medina's cold, calculating pursuit and Hannay's reluctant confrontation explore the depths of villainy and the hunter's instinct.

## Character check-ins

### Richard Hannay

Narrator and protagonist; stalks Medina on the mountain, loses his ammunition, and uses deer to mask his position.

### Dominick Medina

Antagonist; pursued by Hannay, seen peering from a gully, and responds to Hannay's warning shot.

### Angus

The melancholy Angus; Hannay's stalker, advises on wind and deer behavior, leads the initial stalk.

### Kennedy

Accompanies Hannay and Angus on the stalk; noted for mopping his brow and grunting.

### Archie Roylance

Mentioned as the person to whom Hannay lent his .240 rifle, leading to the ammunition mix-up.

### Tom Greenslade

Referenced in the context of reporting that the Corrie holds only small dark fingerlings.

## Key lines

> I forced myself to think, and decided that Medina would either come up the corrie or take the steep spur which formed the right-hand side of it and ran down to the Reascuill.

Hannay reasoned that Medina would approach either through the corrie or along the steep spur on its right side.

_Hannay's tactical analysis of Medina's possible routes._

> I remembered a trick which Angus had taught me—how a stalker might have his wind carried against the face of an opposite mountain and then, so to speak, reflected from it and brought back to his own side, so that deer below him would get it and move away from it up towards him.

Hannay recalled Angus's technique of using wind reflection off a mountain face to drive deer uphill toward him.

_Hannay applies a stalking trick to manipulate deer movement._

> I put a bullet neatly into the centre of the patch of gravel, and then got my glass on it. He knew the game all right. In a second like a weasel he was back in the gully.

Hannay fired a warning shot into the gravel, and Medina instantly retreated into the gully, recognizing the challenge.

_Hannay signals his acceptance of the duel._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_three_hostages_se/chapters/xxi-how-i-stalked-wilder-game-than-deer
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