482 Notes on Sport and Travel ix 



not much to be wondered at considering the rumpus 

 we made ; but still, by steadily pursuing the rolling- 

 fire system, one came down now and then, and 

 great was the squabbling and rejoicing over it ; 

 though the spolia generally consisted of a head, 

 a tail, and a pair of wings, all the intervening 

 substance being shot into thin air. Still, it Jiad 

 been a bird, and that was something, 



I soon got tired and, to say the truth, rather 

 alarmed at this style of sporting, and hinted to my 

 stout friend that the best thing we could do would 

 be to lose ourselves incontinently, and have a 

 little sporting on our own hook. We soon accom- 

 plished our object, and leaving our friends mark- 

 ing their way over the plain by fire and smoke, 

 managed to pick up a few stray birds and a hare 

 or two. But the mid-day heat soon became so 

 intense that we were obliged to ' shut up.' My fat 

 friend cast himself down upon the hard - baked 

 ground, and I nestled beside him to get a little of 

 his shadow, both of us thirsty and baked as the 

 ground itself. 



Alas ! here was no sturdy under -keeper with 

 a York-keg filled with mighty ale slung over his 

 shoulder, to minister to us in our distress ; no 

 bright little rivulet tinkling over the clear granite 

 gravel, in and out among the long purple heather, 

 to serve as a diluent to our ' wee drappie ' ; no 

 sturdy farmer stalked out, his heart warmed by his 

 mighty dinner and post-prandial pipe, hallooing to 



