

54 AUTUMNS IN ARGYLESHIRE 



and devoted to the sport of hunting the roe. 

 Then also the pack was far more complete, and 

 many legends are still handed down by oral tradi- 

 tion of the feats of Towler, the old otter-hound, 

 who never left the scent, and, when he was 

 bidden to a roe-hunt, frequently interpreted the 

 invitation like Mr. Jorrocks " where I dines I 

 sleeps" and returned in the morning after a day 

 and night out, dissipated -looking, rotund, but 

 contented. 



There is a legend, for which I decline to vouch, 

 that he once pursued a roe for three days, when 

 the two were seen about twenty yards apart, 

 looking as if neither could go an inch farther. 



It is pleasant enough, too, to stroll through 

 the woods of an evening, and look out for the 

 roe in the open spaces. Many a good buck has 

 fallen to my rifle in Kilchurn banks, Bar-na-slue, 

 and Kilbride ; but it is not so easy now to get 

 quietly through the woods as it was before the 

 succession of gales denuded whole hillsides of 

 their plantations, twisting and knotting the great 

 fir-trees like spillikins. Till then the paths were 

 beautifully kept, but it has taken years to make 

 them at all practicable, and for a long time they 

 were in many places quite impassable. A rook 

 rifle is good enough for a steady shot at this 

 work. For a roe-hunt I prefer an express, as 

 one may have to fire long shots at uncertain 

 ranges, and often at a moving object; but, steal- 



