62 NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 



I have before spoken, but he was not at home. We found a 

 short running, dodging gentleman, that required a better scent 

 than the early part of the forenoon afforded to do anything with, 

 in addition to the hounds being much pressed by the horsemen, 

 and I was pleased that it was so ; and for these reasons. The 

 country we went over was excessively deep and strongly fenced ; 

 and the mare I rode, the property of Mr. Maxwell, appeared to 

 me too high in condition for a quick thing, over plough, on a hot 

 day. But I afterwards learned from her owner who was absent 

 at Edinburgh on this day that my fears were groundless, and 

 that such was the hardiness of her nature, that, upon the hard- 

 meat system, it was impossible to draw her finer. She was 

 certainly the fattest hunter, in strong work, that I ever remember 

 to have seen, and one of the best fencers. 



As the day wore away the temperature of the air became 

 lower, and we had a splitter in the afternoon that would have 

 satisfied Lord McDonald for pace. We found our fox in the 

 plantations inside Lady Kirkpark, and he put his head straight 

 for the Hirsel, a cover of the duke's, just five miles distant, which 

 five miles were travelled over in somewhat about three times as 

 many minutes. In fact I am at a loss to name a quicker thing 

 for the last twenty years ; so fast, indeed, that with the exception 

 of the first whipper-in, who was outside the park when the fox 

 slipped away, no one man lived with the hounds. Sir David 

 Baird and Mr. M'Kenzie Grieve caught them just as they 

 entered the Hirsel, where, as the duke was to meet there on the 

 morrow, they were of course immediately stopped. The country 

 was sound, with large fields and a good deal of grass, and well 

 adapted to the ultra pace. Sir David Baird rode to Edinburgh 

 after this run full fifty miles. I may here mention, what I 

 omitted in its proper place, that on the iyth our dinner party, at 

 the White Swan, consisted only of Sir David, Lord Saltoun, and 

 myself. Never having before spent an evening with two 

 Waterloo officers of note, it was natural that I should ask them 

 some questions, and amongst others how each of them had 

 escaped in the fray. Lord Saltoun, it appeared, amongst the 

 hundreds that fell around him, was untouched ; but Sir David 

 was less fortunate. He received a bullet in his mouth, which, 

 after carrying away a few teeth, found its way into his throat and 

 lodged there. Fortunately, it was extracted without leaving its 

 marks externally, although the force of a dozen more grains of 

 powder would have been fatal. " But were you never wounded?" 

 said I to the Hero of Hugoniont. " Knocked down once," 

 replied his lordship, " by a spent ball, but not much hurt. My 

 sergeant, however, thinking I was killed, cried out ' There goes 



