24 AUTUMNS IN AEGYLESHIRE 



shot of me ; or, agaiD, whether I shall hit him 

 if he does, are all questions of a more doubtful 

 character. But I hope for the best, and, at any 

 rate, I am determined to enjoy myself whatever 

 happens. I have plenty of time before me, for 

 the keepers have gone round to place the other 

 rifles, and will then begin to hunt at the end of 

 the wood more than a mile off, and I know that 

 I can look about me without the least danger 

 of anything passing me unperceived. Practice 

 has sharpened my eyes and ears, and, even if 

 a beast slips away without the hounds giving 

 tongue, I shall be pretty sure to hear a stick 

 snap, or the bracken rustle, and to see him before 

 he is within shot of me. 



I take out my glass and adjust it to focus, and 

 first I turn it upon a small group of rocks close 

 to the shore of the island opposite. Are there 

 any seals on them ? Ten years ago I counted 

 twenty at a time basking and enjoying themselves 

 there on such a day as this at low tide. Three- 

 no, four, weird-looking cormorants, with their wings 

 outstretched. No wonder Milton depicted Satan 

 on the tree of knowledge in that form : it can 

 hardly be called disguise. Then some herons, and, 

 yes, three long shapes, which an unpractised eye 

 would take for rocks protruding above the tangle, 

 but which I should know for seals, even without 

 the occasional lazy motion of a tail or flapper, by 

 which, I suppose, they are trying to get into a 



