1 82 HIGHLAND SPORT 



one of the keepers' wives, when I took this place two years 

 ago, that there was reported to be a walking lady belonging 

 to the castle, who only appeared every three years, and thus it 

 would seem as if Miss Kent had been gossiping with some 

 of the old cronies about the place, and her imagination has 

 doubtlessly done the rest. At any rate, my friends, the ghost 

 won't spoil our sport, and we will leave it Miss Kent's empty 

 room to wander in. Furthermore," continued Tom, " I'm sure 

 it will be better not to talk of the matter ; my wife is the only 

 other lady in the house who knows of it, so if we keep it 

 quiet, the rest of them and the children will not be made 

 nervous." 



With this we all readily agreed, and then separating into 

 twos and threes, the day was passed as Highland Sundays 

 usually are by the heathen Saxon. Some took their "glasses" 

 up the opposite hill for a spy into the forest, others wrote 

 letters, and another couple went off to the railway station 

 three miles distant to watch the mails from south and north 

 arrive and depart, while three more made their way to the 

 river on a pearl-hunting expedition. With regard to this 

 latter pursuit, it is a snare and a delusion, for I have fished 

 up and cracked open thousands of mussels, but never yet 

 has there been any pearl in them other than in the similitude 

 of an unpolished dust shot. 



17th and 1 8th. — Torrents of rain fell on these two days, 

 and it was impossible to do anything more than potter about 

 the " policies " in macintoshes. 



19th. — Tom had business to attend to, so only two parties 

 went grousing, and I was asked to supply the castle with 

 venison. The rain had gone, while the day was all that 

 could have been desired, when after a long jolt on pony 

 back over a rough country I found myself in the forest ; then 

 followed a lot of hard walking, with a great deal of spying. 

 The first thing discovered was an eagle sitting on a rock 

 devouring a grouse, and with deep interest we observed the 



