70 A SPORTING INCIDENT. 



"the couples"* of the cabin, and the whisky-keg continues 

 unexhausted, those worthies matter little in what cranny they 

 ensconce themselves at night. To a late hour the piper is in 

 requisition, and these careless devils dance, and laugh, and 

 sing, until my cousin's mandate scatters them like ghosts at 

 cock-crow ; off they scamper, and where they bestow them- 

 selves till morning none but themselves can tell. Although 

 the quantity of whisky consumed here, in the short space of 

 three days, appears almost incredible ; yet upon these seasoned 

 vessels its effects are so very transitory as almost to authenticate 

 the boasted virtues of the mountain-dew " that there is not 

 an aching head in a hogshead full !" 



While traversing a low range of moors, an incident oc- 

 curred which at this season was unaccountable. A red and 

 white setter pointed at the top of a little glen. The heathy 

 banks on both sides of a mountain rivulet undulated gently 

 from the stream, and caused a dipping of the surface ; and 

 the ground seemed a favourable haunt for grouse, and our 

 dogs were beating it with care. Observing the setter drop, 

 his companions backed and remained steady, when suddenly 

 Hero rose from his couchant attitude, and next moment a 

 wild deer, of enormous size and splendid beauty, crossed 

 before the dog and sprang the birds he had been pointing. 

 The apparition of the animal, so little expected, and so 

 singularly and closely introduced to our view, occasioned 

 a sensation I had never hitherto experienced. I rushed up 

 the bank, while, unembarrassed by our presence, the noble 

 deer swept past us in a light and graceful canter, at the 

 short distance of some seventy or eighty yards. I might 

 have fired at and annoyed him but on a creature so 

 powerful, small shot could have produced little effect, and 

 none but a Cockney, under similar circumstances, would 

 waste a charge ; and to tease, without a chance of bringing 

 down the gallant beast, would have been a species of use- 

 less mischief, meriting a full month upon the tread-mill. 

 I gazed after him as he gradually increased his distance ; his 



* The couples are the principal timbers that support the roof; they 

 are placed at stated distances, and an Irishman describes the size of a 

 house by telling you that it has so many " couples." 



