128 Sporting Sketches in Pen and Pencil. 



took a nip of " iindiluted " just to square the bill of lading, and started 

 as fresh as ever, or nearly so, to take the lower ground back, the 

 pony being laden with the grouse and the debris of tTie much-reduced 

 luncheon, and Bostock and one of the laddies to show him the way, being 

 detached to take a short cut over the shoulder of the hill to the lodge, 

 to prepare baths, dinner, &c., &c., against our return. 



The flat ground was not so dry as the hiU, being composed of big 

 slabs of heather, with great hags between, and here and there we 

 came to tumpy, tussocky, squashy bits, where we found an odd snipe 

 or two, with plovers and such small deer, while out of one little pool 

 we flushed a mallard, which I pulled over in proper style. There were 

 a lot of birds on the flats, however, and though they were wilder than 

 they were in the morning, and the dogs were a shade less perfect than 

 our last brace, we managed to get on pretty good terms with them, 

 sending covey after covey, a little shorn of its fair proportions, back to 

 the hill. The walking here required more attention to the feet than it 

 did on the hUl, for you might go squash into some mud-hole or blind 

 ditch or drain if you did not have an eye alow as well as aloft, 

 and this, too, rather disturbed our accuracy of shooting. Nevertheless, 

 we managed on our way home to pick up nineteen brace of grouse, five 

 snipe, seven plovers, and the mallard, making our bag up to forty- 

 eight brace, nine plovers, seven snipe, and the mallard. 



Our friends did not do so well on their return. Perhaps the eagle was 

 absent. They only scored eleven brace, three snipe, and four plovers. 

 Thus the united bag was eighty-nine brace, thirteen plovers, ten snipe, and 

 a duck ; and Charley professed himself very well satisfied with Craigdarroch. 

 On our arrival a tepid tub was lovely ; then a cigarette and a sherry and 

 bitter in fleecy hosiery ; and finally dinner. Ah ! Bostock was a treasure 

 in this particular ! As Charley often said, " Blow his H's ! The beggar 

 knows what's good, and manages to get it ! " And on this occasion he 

 out-did himself, and the dinner was far beyond our expectations ; while 

 the wines, despite the journey up, were, thanks to exercise and a happy 

 frame of mind, perfect; at any rate, we partook of them heartily. 



I am afraid we had a little mild gambling that evenuig ; but, as we 



