4 ECHOES OF SPORT 



vation of any or all of these qualities ? Not 

 to my mind it is a simple rather than a com- 

 plex keynote that lies at the root of true 

 sport. 



I must own to a love of stalking, hunting, 

 shooting, fishing, and low be it spoken 

 poaching in any form, for which my gentler 

 sisters may blush for me, though I aver that 

 the pursuit of such tastes has taught me 

 some of the best lessons in life and some small 

 store of natural lore. No one can pursue any 

 sport satisfactorily without developing an 

 acute sense of observation and a familiarity 

 with some of Nature's big outposts, such as 

 wind, sky, atmosphere, to say nothing of the 

 myriad smaller details of colour, shade, covert, 

 lie of ground and country. But even love of 

 Nature and her ways is not my keynote. 



What curious contrasts come to me as I 

 write. A range of Scotland's greatest hills, 

 rugged and stern, the first touch of winter on 

 their heights, a little band of three struggling 

 in the teeth of a stiff nor' -west wind, clothes 

 heavy with snow and wet, sometimes crawl- 



