I A Gossip on a Sutherland Hillside 227 



moor over which he was hastening. When about 

 half across the uninhabited hill-grounds, he observed 

 an animal at a distance following his footsteps, and 

 soon discovered, from its peculiar howl, that it was 

 the old wolf he dreaded to meet while carrying off 

 its young, and which, no doubt, had visited her 

 deserted den after he left it. His speed was re- 

 doubled ; but his exasperated and formidable 

 pursuer was quickly gaining ground on him, and he 

 therefore cast aside the dead whelps, and stood coolly 

 to meet the fierce attack with which he was 

 threatened, and, when within gunshot, he took a 

 deliberate aim, and fortunately succeeded in shooting 

 the advancing wolf Without awaiting to reload 

 his gun, he continued to run homewards at his 

 fleetest pace, and although one of the best runners 

 in the district, he only succeeded in gaining the 

 descent of the hill, at the foot of which his house 

 was situated, before another, a male or dog wolf, was 

 noticed in full chase after him. Mackay arrived 

 with great difficulty at a rude enclosure near his 

 house, which separated the infolds from the out/olds 

 of his small farm, before the close approach of this 

 second and equally infuriated wolf; and having 

 managed to reload his gun, and ensured a certain 

 aim by resting it on the wall behind which he stood, 

 he shot this old dog wolf also. After this long- 

 remembered slaughter in one day, by a single indi- 

 vidual, of two full-grown and two young wolves, there 

 has not been another found in that district of country. 



