DEER -DRIVING IN MULL. 43 



royal head. From his partiality to the imper- 

 vious whins of Garrochree he had gained his 

 title. He never willingly left his fastness, except 

 when the flies forced him, returning to it when- 

 ever the July sun had abated his fierceness. 

 When hunted he ran a ring round and round the 

 thickest underwood, avoiding every open, and 

 confounding the dogs by the labyrinth of his 

 traces. I have known him dodge about in this 

 manner for half a day, and yet never be once 

 seen either by sportsmen or beaters. The well- 

 known " catch a weasel asleep " might well have 

 been applied to him ; and yet this big weasel had 

 been caught napping, but for breaking the pro- 

 verb nearly paid the forfeit of his life. 



A former tenant of Glenforsa had an eight- 

 barrelled rifle, with which he used to astonish 

 the Mull natives by breaking bottles at fabu- 

 lous distances,' and no doubt he was a crack rifle- 

 man at the target. One calm summer day, 

 soon after his taking possession, a wood-cutter, 

 in passing through Garrochree wood, spied a 

 pair of antlers peering out above the low whins. 

 Shrewdly suspecting the owner of the horns could 



