REMINISCENCES OF A ROSS-SHIRE FOREST. 165 



am very glad indeed to be able to give you a satisfac- 

 tory explanation. "\Ve have all of us heard of animals 

 wonderfully fleet of foot, especially on the other side 

 of the Atlantic, doing a distance in " less than no 

 time." This stag went, as we. have been informed, 

 " like the very devil." He left the youth's company 

 at six, and he got to the corrie at half-past five. 



" Xever trust a stag that falls suddenly to the shot." 

 Remember that, if you take my advice ; and thereby 

 hangs a tale. There was a man at the lodge who 

 answered to the name of " old John." John had a 

 lean head, well set on, as they say of a colt by 

 Stockwell, and excellent legs (none of your fatted 

 calves they're no good), like most colts by such a 

 sire. He wa'sn't within ten years of the age he 

 looked ; and between you and me, there were few 

 better men about the place. He seldom got out on 

 " the hill " much to his disgust, for he was very 

 keen his duties consisting in attending on the 

 children when they went fishing, helping in the deer 

 larder, finishing the fag-ends of the bottles as they 

 came out of the dining-room, and making himself 

 generally useful. He was fond of snuff and stimu- 

 lants ; for the " Blue-Ribbon Army " he had a sincere 

 and sovereign contempt ; and our ideas coinciding 

 except the snuff we used to be as happy when we 

 got out together as if we'd been at Rosherville ; and 

 if we didn't kill anything else, we always killed the 

 day to our mutual satisfaction. 



