108 AUTUMNS IN ARGYLESHIRE 



should not be blind ; stop your ears to the 

 voice of the aneroid singing 



"Trust me not at all 

 Or trust me all in all," 



and take your waterproof and plenty of wraps, 

 especially if you are going to spend a whole 

 day with me in an open boat, many miles from 

 home or effectual shelter. 



As I pass through the wood a beautiful roe- 

 buck stares at me within twenty yards, without 

 a sign of fear, although a touch of the trigger 

 could not fail to make his graceful horns my 

 own. His confidence is not misplaced ; he is 

 as safe from fire-arms as a fox in Leicestershire, 

 as long as he chooses to remain in this sanc- 

 tuary, the wood round the house. Next, as I 

 turn down towards the first lodge, a squirrel, his 

 bushy tail almost white, runs across the path, 

 and sits up watching me without dropping the 

 large bit of red fungus which he is carrying in 

 his mouth. Him, perhaps, I ought to kill, for 

 I have passed some tell-tale shoots of ornamental 

 pine on the path which remind me that my 

 little friend is as mischievous as he is pretty ; 

 but, if he must die, others may shoot him, not 

 I. I decline to be his executioner ; but I should 

 be sorry to insure his life if my schoolboy son 

 happened to pass him rifle in hand. Anything 

 good to eat or mischievous is his legitimate prey ; 



