REMINISCENCES OF A EOSS-SHIRE FOREST. 163 



" You should have fired at him when first you 

 saw him. I should have done so most certainly/' 

 spluttered a youth of four -and -twenty summers 

 through a mouthful of filberts. 



" Really, my lad," I replied ; " now that's exactly 

 the course I believe you would have adopted." 



Not, knowing exactly whether this was intended to 

 be complimentary or the reverse, the youth held his 

 tongue, and I was allowed to finish my story. I 

 thought perhaps his powerful brain was at rest, but 

 such was not the case : he was cogitating deeply. 



" But," he suddenly ejaculated again, after a con- 

 siderable interval, " if you had killed that stag at 

 eleven, you might have got another afterwards." 



Seeing the quarter whence it emanated, and that 

 it was filtered through a couple of pounds of nuts, 

 six or eight apples, and a water-melon, the remark 

 showed a considerable amount of intelligence ; but 

 whether or not I was right in refusing to fire when I 

 had little or no hope of "bringing off" the shot,- in 

 again holding my hand, when a wounded stag and a 

 long stern-chase Duncan first " and the rest no- 

 where " would, I anticipated, be the result (try that 

 once or twice, gentle reader, and tell me how you like 

 it), in judging for myself when I felt assured bad 

 advice was being given me in waiting patiently, 

 hour after hour in following up the stag and killing 

 him in what I claim to have been a sportsmanlike 

 manner, I leave to my readers to determine. 



