EEMINISCENCES OE THE LEWS. 213 



and thence over Rohneval. I was utterly reck- 

 less, so I took a short aim, for the blinding 

 drift was too much for a long one, and pulled. 

 To mj great astonishment, as well as that of 

 Angus, off his ledge rolled my friend, as dead 

 as a herring. He was a very good stag, an old 

 one, with the quaintest head I ever shot — one 

 very thick, long horn, another short, stumpy, 

 but very thick one. The gralloch, as you may 

 imagine, did not occupy a very long time, and 

 we ran home as fast as we could. We had 

 not been more than two hours away. The 

 piper greeted me on my return vrith kind con- 

 dolences on the weather and on my endurances, 

 and proposed the hottest of toddies at once, for 

 which he, with great forethought, had the 

 kettle already boiling; and he went on dis- 

 coursing on the uselessness of disturbing ground 

 such a day. " But I've got him, piper." He 

 started and stared, as I once saw him do on the 

 only occasion I ever knew him lose a salmon, 

 and turned round to Angus for confirmation of 

 my assertion. On Angus nodding assent, he 

 said nothing, but at once gave me a lounder 

 between the shoulders that I believe at the 

 time restored the proper circulation of my 

 blood, and sent it from the head to the extremi- 

 ties, but which I shall not easily forget. I once 



