CH. III. STAG IN LOCH MADDIE FOX-HOUND. 39 



certainly never was so near to an unwounded deer ; 

 lie had evidently been living in solitary security 

 for some time on the island, and feeding on the 

 coarse grass and plants. He probably had been 

 there ever since he had cast his horns, as the 

 new ones were about five or six inches in length. 

 While on this island, too, another interesting 

 incident took place. "We heard the baying of a 

 hound on the shore. At first I imagined that some 

 fox-hunter's dog had strayed away in pursuit of and 

 was still running a fox or deer ; but on looking 

 with my glass, I saw a fine fox-hound sitting on 

 a point of land which reached into the lake, and 

 howling in a manner which plainly showed he had 

 lost his master; and having heard me fire at a crow, 

 he imagined that I was the person he was in search 

 of. After howling for a minute or two, till the 

 hills around echoed with his deep voice, the gallant 

 dog swam into the loch and made for an island on 

 which I had fired at a gray crow. I saw him land 

 and, with nose to the ground, take up our track ; 

 but after a little hesitation he found that the scent 

 was not that of his master, nor of any one he knew, 

 so plunging into the loch again he made for the 

 mainland, and having reached it after a stout 

 battle with the waves (the wind then being high), 

 he continued his search round the shore of the lake, 



