CH. XXVI. WALK HOME. 113 



Here he paused as if at a dead loss for a simile ; 

 which I was obliged to help him to at last by sug- 

 gesting, " As your own wife, Donald." At which 

 he indulged in a low inward chuckle and a pinch 

 of snuff, without, however, denying the " soft im- 

 peachment." 



On looking at the stag, we found that he had 

 evidently been very lately shot at, and that one of 

 his forelegs was broken above the knee the bone 

 smashed entirely, and the leg hanging on by the 

 skin, which would have soon worn through ; the 

 animal, having lost the incumbrance of the broken 

 limb, would soon, if left in quiet, have entirely re- 

 covered. We prepared our game for being " left 

 till called for," and sat down to our luncheon. My 

 account to Donald of the death of my other stag 

 was interrupted by a most desperate battle be- 

 tween the dogs, who had fallen out over the dead 

 body ; and being pretty well matched in size and 

 courage, we had great difficulty in reducing them 

 to order, and compelling them to keep the peace. 



I had a pleasant though not very bloody after- 

 noon's shooting going home, killing seven brace of 

 wild-flying grouse, a mallard, and two blackcocks. 

 The night had set in before we were half way 

 through the woods in which the last two or three 

 miles of our road lay ; we could hear numberless 



VOL. II. I 



