DEER-DEIVING IN MULL. 51 



second son was now convinced that it is sometimes 

 good policy to choose the lowest place. The dogs 

 soon found a hot track, but the run was long, and 

 the deer stubborn. For nearly two hours they 

 stuck to the scent, threading their nimble quarry 

 round every rugged knoll and through many a 

 tangled thicket. At last, when least expected, and 

 the cry of the dogs at the furthest point of the 

 covert, the object of their pursuit, in the shape of 

 an old hind, quietly stole out of the wood, and 

 stood opposite me, listening a fine broadside, 

 though rather distant chance. I fired, and struck 

 her hard. She turned again for hiding to the 

 copse, but a shot from the second barrel brought 

 her down. There were no more deer found all 

 day, so the hart had not returned. 



Our last Scalastal day was intended for black 

 game and grouse, and as the cutting of Garmony 

 wood (which had spoilt it for deer) made fine open 

 shooting at black game, we gave it the first trial. 

 Our bags were fast filling with young blackcocks, 

 and old ones too, before we got to the further end 

 of the wood, where the moor-ground of Garmony 

 and Fishness begins. Here we meant to range for 



