58 DEER -DRIVING IN MULL. 



not dropt to shot. Weight, 17 stone, and a very 

 good head. 



Now for the Garrochree stag ! " We know his 

 tricks only let him try them," was the boast of 

 our party when marching to rouse the doomed 

 monster. His retreat was securely barred by my 

 eldest son, while I took my former vantage-ground 

 to give notice of his approach by a wave of my 

 cap. He was at home as usual, but no persuasion 

 could force him from his fastness. In vain Mac- 

 lean's dog found him several times hid in an im- 

 penetrable thicket : he always ran the ring of the 

 jungle, and then clapping suddenly down, was lost 

 until he was rested for another race. I never 

 ceased watching the old collie, and never saw such 

 endurance and pluck shown by any dog that ran 

 the, foot. Sticking to his track like a bloodhound, 

 not once overrunning it, or slacking his pace, 

 facing briars and whins that appalled the other 

 dogs, and all the time attending to the slightest 

 signal of his master, he proved himself nobly pos- 

 sessed of intelligence, perseverance, and self-com- 

 mand, qualities which have always been the making 

 of great men ! 



