224 HIGHLAND SPORT 



for right well they knew their mission could be no pleasant 

 one to Tom Berks or his foresters. 



We found them a very civil, well-spoken lot of men, while 

 their leader courteously informed us that from time immemorial 

 there had been a road to Kirknell through the forest of Strath- 

 maacoe. In this he was correct, but he omitted to state that 

 the aforesaid road had never at any time been fitted for 

 wheeled traffic, while also he ignored the fact that for the last 

 two hundred years the track had not been used except by an 

 occasional shepherd. We very politely asked our informant 

 to point out the road, and further inquired whether the party, 

 together with the carriages, were about to start for Kirknell, 

 and he smiled as he answered, " Well, no, sirs, not to-day ; 

 we are leaving it till others have worn the track plainer or 

 made the road better." 



We knew that all traces of the track disappeared a few 

 yards from where we stood, and in the whole way through the 

 forest only in two places did they again appear for a short 

 distance, so no one could have found their way anywhere by 

 following these indications. Then we parted with our right-of- 

 way acquaintances, and in the dusk of the evening as we 

 journeyed home we found the sign-post at the entrance to the 

 forest looking quite ghostly in its brand-new whiteness. On 

 reaching home we learned from Tom that he had met the 

 whole brigade on their return, when after a short parley the 

 company had been invited to the Castle, where they were so 

 well entertained that they departed singing, " For he's a jolly 

 good fellow." With regard to this sign-post, I must now 

 anticipate matters by stating that a few days later it was found 

 drowned in the burn by the side of which it had stood so 

 proudly for so brief a time. 



The right-of-way division were unkind enough to say that 

 the hands of wicked men had placed villainous saltpetre 

 beneath their trophy and hence its downfall. The foresters of 

 Strathmaacoe, however, hooted this theory to scorn, while 



