158 HIGHLAND SPORT 



shoot on a day like this has been ? A strange gun, a keeper 

 that didn't know his business, bad dogs, a bHstered heel, and, 

 I must add, Mr. Auldjoe, the sight of your tall hat, all combined 

 to put me quite off my shooting." 



Mr. Auldjoe jerked his nose towards the speaker as he 

 replied, " The offending hat, sir, is one of Lincoln and Bennett's 

 best, while the pattern has been in my family ever since tall 

 hats have been worn. All my life I have never carried any 

 other head-gear, and you, sir, are the first person I've ever met 

 who has so rudely found fault with a trifling matter of dress, 

 although I am well aware — and here he looked at the Colonel — 

 that my hat is a matter which has often afforded amusement to 

 some of the new-fangled school." 



Here our host rose and said, "Well, gentlemen, we will try 

 to make you all happier to-morrow, therefore it is settled. 

 Captain, that you shall shoot with me, when I think I can 

 promise you a good day." 



On this the bridegroom sought his bride in the drawing- 

 room. 



"That's a nasty chap, Colonel," I remarked, to which my 

 host answered — 



" Yes, indeed ; he will have to improve, or he will get 

 notice to quit." 



"All the better for your pheasants. Colonel," said Auldjoe. 



The next day we took our sport as agreed, when I found 

 my friend in the tall hat to be a good shot, an untiring walker, 

 and a very pleasant companion, so we made a nice bag most 

 happily. At dinner it was easy to see something had put the 

 Colonel thoroughly out of temper ; in vain the bride tried the 

 blandishments of her small talk, and by degrees a feeling of 

 depression overtook everyone except Spiller. He had replied 

 curtly to my questions about his day's sport — 



" Too tired to talk," he said. 



He was, however, certainly not too tired to drink, for his 

 attentions to the champagne decanter were frequent, and when 



