A DEER-HOUND SLIPPED. 9i 



has it! Percy scents it too, and pulls down the leash, 

 straining his nose to the ground; do look at the eager 

 fellow ! 



" He is slipped, and has overrun the scent : see what a 

 cast he makes, with the dash of a foxhound, and the speed 

 of a greyhound: beautiful! there he has it, and the 

 deer is before him, going down towards the Tilt : come 

 along, then ; and follow you, Davy, with the other dog." 



Off ran the sportsmen to the river Mark at their best en- 

 during speed, and so' on to the Tilt, where they expected 

 at once to find the bay, but they were wofully mistaken. 

 After having followed the wild romantic course of that 

 impetuous torrent for some time, they overtook Peter 

 Eraser, who seemed as much at a loss as themselves; still 

 they kept running on, and at length came upon the track 

 through a birch grove. Here and there they found the 

 grey stones dyed with drops of blood : now, all were sure 

 they heard the baying of the hound; but although they 

 kept advancing with their utmost speed over rock and 

 ridge, through burn and cataract, it died away, and was 

 lost: again it was renewed: and the sound ceased as 

 before : this was very strange ! what should make a stag 

 so badly wounded break his bay in such a manner ? But 

 Percy would never leave him, come what might. Once 

 more, in rounding a point, they heard the bay distinctly, 

 and not far distant: they gained upon it; and soon the 

 truth broke upon them, and filled them with astonish- 

 ment. Could it have been believed that amongst the 

 lonely woods of Glen Tilt, reserved alone for ducal sports, 

 sacred as the harem ; where neither stranger nor traveller 

 were permitted to put a foot unbidden ; in a country where 



