REMINISCENCES OP THE LEWS. 51 



liim, wliat on sea could ? Besides, lie was 

 really a first-class boatman. I never saw one 

 steer with an oar like him ; and I verily believe 

 that, once in particular, we should have been 

 swamped while crossing from the Park to 

 Aline after deer-stalking, with a very full boat, 

 but for the manner he steered. 



I have said before that our Fred was a very 

 good sportsman, a good shot, a fine rider, and 

 a capital fisherman. Of deer- stalking, however, 

 he at that time had had very little experience ; 

 indeed, none of the party, myself excepted, 

 knew much about deer, and my limited expe- 

 rience was confined to shooting in France and 

 Germany, where stalking, as practised in the 

 Highlands, is not known ; though waiting and 

 watching deer, particularly shooting them from 

 trees near their favourite feeding-places, and 

 also driving, are. I killed a great many fallow- 

 deer in Ireland, and was suspected of having 

 poached a great many stags when I lived at 

 Gheramene, on the Upper Lake of Killarney ; 

 but, on the honour of a gentleman, I never did 

 poach, or attempt to poach, a single one, though 

 I might many. 



Fred's first stalk was an important epoch in 

 his life. M'Aulay took him to a stag, but the 

 beast shifting a little during the stalk, he could 



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