42 ON THE GRAMPIAN HILLS. 



and filling my pockets with cartridges, started for 

 Cairn Moor, in order to reach which it was necessary to 

 climb a steep ascent of about a mile. My first business 

 was to cross the burn, swollen with the heavy rain of 

 the previous day ; but it was no easy matter to jump 

 from stepping-stone to bo alder. I had no stick to aid 

 me, and, weighted with cartridges and gun in hand, I 

 found it a difficult matter to preserve an even balance. 

 But all such obstacles were surmounted ; and on I 

 toiled, catching hold of the heather to aid me in 

 mounting the steep bit which I had first to encounter. 

 When I had gained the height before me I sat down 

 breathless, the perspiration dropping in large beads 

 from my forehead. After a few minutes' rest and a 

 long pull and a strong pull at the flask of " whuskey," 

 I started again, gradually recovering from the state of 

 breathlessness as I mounted higher and higher. Then, 

 at my very feet, up rises ' ' a lazy bird/' which went on 

 its way rejoicing, as I had not put cartridges in the 

 breechloader ; for, until I got my second wind and was 

 a little firmer on my legs, i thought it unadvisable to 

 load, as walking with both barrels at full cock over the 

 rugged moorland is not a particularly safe proceeding. 

 By degrees the difficulty experienced at first vanished, 

 and I gained the summit without fatigue, being 

 rewarded with a magnificent view of the "sma' hulls 

 and muckle hulls " around me. There were the solemn 

 old mountains, the Glas Muol, the Cairnwall, the Aged 

 Cairn (looking less grim than usual, for the sun shone 

 brightly, bringing out the colour vividly) ; there a 

 patch of purple heather, here a piece of bright green 

 grass, and towering above all are the gray heads of 

 these venerable hills; whilst through the correi or 



