A COMRADE JOINS. 57 



range for a sportsman. Tortoise, therefore, used to relax a 

 little on them after the severer exercise of deer-stalking, 

 when venison was plenty, and grouse scarce at the castle, 

 or when the wind was unfavourable for the pursuit of the 

 nobler game. By the favour of the lord of the forest, 

 Bruar Lodge* was his occasional domicile. With all its 

 apertures he loved it dearly ; and it may be doubted 

 whether any monarch ever entered a palace, or any lady a 

 ball-room, with more absolute delight than he was wont to 

 enter this lonely abode. What, though the winds would 

 revel freely in it, and heave up the little carpet with an 

 unceasing undulation, still the table cloth was tolerably 

 tranquil, for the weight of the meal made it retain its 

 station ! What, though the parlour bell in the passage 

 would ring incessantly during the night, even when the 

 doors were closed, stimulated by the gentle violence of the 

 wind ; it was an ^Eolian harp to him ! What, though a 

 deluge of continuous rain, like the bursting of a water- 

 spout, would sometimes plunge down, and darken the 

 narrow glen, recalling the days of Deucalion and Pyrrha, 

 still there was a to-morrow, and then the mist would climb 

 the mountain tops, and the sun break forth anew in all its 

 refulgence ! 



Heaven be praised for these transient checks, they add 

 new vigour to our mind, and fresh zest to our sport. 



But away with these reflections; for here comes my 

 friend, safely arrived over the dubious tracts of the 

 Badenoch mountains, fresh and eager for the sport. 



" Well, Harry, I am delighted to see you arrived, and to 

 welcome you to my cabin ; how do you like our country ; 

 and how did you and your sheltie get across it ?" 



" Country ! why it is a vast chaos of mountains, rocks, 

 and torrents ; I hit the track by a mere miracle, you know 

 that well enough. I am aware that the descendants of the 



* The noble proprietor of Bruar Lodge would have spared no trouble or 

 expense in making it as comfortable as possible for the writer of these 

 pages, and this was repeatedly and kindly pressed upon him at Blair ; 

 but, as almost all his time during the shooting season was spent at the 

 castle, he felt and expressed that every thing at the lodge was precisely as 

 he could wish ; and really, during a violent north wind and a raging 

 tempest (the particular time alluded to), it did not come within the scope 

 of a carpenter's or mason's craft to ward off the inroad of the elements. 



