GRANTING A FAVOUK. 241 



The second rifle missed fire also, as well it might, it 

 having been of course arranged that there should be no 

 charge in it. 



" Well, you are a lucky fellow, for I see your time is 

 not yet come. Give the man his fill of whiskey, John ; 

 he does not lack courage : but mark me, Master Gown- 

 cromb, if ever you come after my deer again, my rifle will 

 not miss fire; and if it does, the gaol at Perth is large 

 enough to hold you, and all the poachers in Badenoch, 

 though ye are a numerous progeny." 



" I wunna say that I will gang entirely wi'out my sport, 

 for I canna aye be wanting venison ; but yer Grace shall 

 never find me in yer forest again. There's mony a stoot 

 hart in Glenfiddick, and mony a yell hind in the pine 

 woods of Braemar ; let alone Gaig and Glen Feshie ; and 

 I will leave the braes of Atholl for yer Grace to take yer 

 pleasure in, and never fash them more, since ye request the 

 favour." 



Thus ended a deer hunt, fit for the recreation of King 

 Jamie; and although stags were not slain by hundreds, 

 as Lesley has chronicled, or by scores, as the water poet 

 has recounted both of which accounts I hold to be gross 

 exaggerations yet the sport probably was quite as ample 

 in proportion to the numbers engaged in it, and the small 

 space of time that was occupied in bringing down the deer. 



The glen, too, as in times of yore, was graced by the 

 presence of many a fair and noble dame who had been 

 waiting the termination of the drive in the mountain 

 lodges; indeed it is recorded that ladies of high station 

 have not only felt a great inclination towards this noble 

 sport, but have actually engaged in it. 



R 



