18 ON THE GRAMPIAN HILLS. 



he was invited to try his hand at rook-shooting. I 

 assumed the airs of a thoroughly competent work- 

 man one who was accustomed to climb the steepest 

 acclivities daily, as a matter of amusement wishing 

 all the time that I had candidly owned that I was 

 unfit to play the part of a mountaineer even for one 

 day only. 



"Now then," said my companion, "let us be 

 off ; " and off we accordingly went, across the 

 babbling burn which flows through the glen; and 

 then my troubles commenced. Long before I had 

 accomplished the half of my task I felt dead beat, I 

 had hardly any breath left, and I thought it was all 

 up with my day's shooting, so long and anxiously 

 looked for. I said little in fact I couldn't, I had 

 no breath to give words to my feelings; and I 

 silently resumed my toil, fortunately as it proved, 

 for after a little while I found breath, the hill seemed 

 less steep the higher I climbed, and when I reached 

 the summit all signs of feebleness had passed away, 

 my fear of turning out a fraud vanished, a sensation 

 of complacency passed through me, and by a judicious 

 concealment of my fears I had not damaged my 

 reputation as a hardy, indomitable hill-climber. 



Now, a black-and-tan Gordon setter steadily draws 

 the patches of heather in a few minutes he stands 

 steady, then creeps on for a few paces, stands again, 

 and up rises our first covey. Down drops this well- 

 trained dog ; bang ! bang ! go the guns ; and our 

 first brace is killed. Then on we go. In a second 

 or two the setter has found more game, and another 

 brace is bagged ; and so we go on until ten o'clock, 

 at which hour we had scored twenty-five brace. All 



