32 AUTUMNS ON THE SPEY. 



instead of a goodly buck, as I had fondly ex- 

 pected, out bounded a poor little fawn, and stopped 

 for a few seconds in the opening, trembling and 

 looking about, as if not knowing in what direction 

 to fly from its persecutor. There it stood, within 

 twelve yards of me, an easy victim, but I could 

 not find it in my heart to pull the trigger. On it 

 passed, the hound soon crossing at the same spot, 

 and pertinaciously sticking to the scent, although 

 no match in pace for the animal he was pursuing. 

 Long and anxiously did I listen, until his deep 

 notes gradually died away in the distance, and 

 as no shot was fired afterwards in that direction, 

 I concluded that the poor thing had run the 

 gauntlet in safety, and congratulated myself sin- 

 cerely on having abstained from thoughtlessly 

 putting an end to its existence. 



For full an hour afterwards did I keep watch, 

 staring at the opposite path, at first anxiously, 

 then listlessly, in the vain hope of seeing a buck 

 pass, although roused every now and then as the 

 shouts of the drivers occasionally reached my 

 ears, or the tonguing of a hound, gradually ap- 

 proaching but finally passing unseen, like the 

 animal he was chasing, raised my expectations to 

 the utmost for a few moments. At last, becoming 

 resigned to my bad luck, I turned round in my 



