44 DEER-STALKERS' START. 



" No, faith, to do you justice, your memory never fails 

 you there ; and you take care to refresh it pretty often. 

 So off with you, my good fellow, and keep that laugh to 

 enliven you on your way, for it is a long and dreary one." 



It may be thought that Tortoise said this in a half 

 intelligible drowsy tone not a bit of it. An eager sports- 

 man never sleeps or slumbers ; or if he does so by way of 

 variety, he starts into life at once, and springs up from 

 his bed as if the deer were actually before him : neither 

 does he say, " Sandy, bring me the balls ; " or, " Charlie, 

 bring me my powder flask," or my jacket, or my shoes, or 

 any thing else of the sort ; for he has very methodically 

 laid out all these things on his dressing table over night 

 with his own proper hands. To be dependent on others in 

 these matters is exceedingly youthful : no, he trusts to no 

 man's vigilance, but relies upon his own ; and this is his 

 system, not only in the camp, but in the field. 



Mounted on his horse, Tortoise soon left the silent 

 castle, and away he went, winding his rugged course 

 through the forest of pines, some standing stately and 

 dark in their verdure, others riven and blasted by the 

 storm, their bare bones laying across his path, or driven 

 crashing into the torrent below, where the waters of the 

 Banavie come struggling through their rude barriers. 

 The morn broke silvery and bright over the mountain top, 

 just moving with her refreshing breath the light leaves of 

 the birch and mountain ash, which were scattered about 

 in nature's careless haste, hanging in graceful forms, and 

 glittering with the falling dewdrop. 



Now and then a roe sprang up from the bracken, in the 

 secret glades of the wood, and vanished instantly with a 



