49 



CHAPTER III 



THE HARE AND THE LAWYERS 



After the middle of August the dayhght in the North 

 of Scotland is sadly curtailed. The day seems only 

 half spent when a certain stillness falls upon the 

 landscape. In the near foreground a sudden glow 

 of crimson light fires the hayfields into a ruddy 

 blaze. The distant hills exchange the varied colours 

 of the afternoon for a soft and delicate tone of iron 

 grey. As I pen my thoughts in a beautiful Perth- 

 shire glen (unwilling to turn my face homeward, in 

 spite of the persistent attacks of swarms of black 

 and angry midges) the hollows and fissures which line 

 yon mural precipices become indistinct at first, then 

 cease to be visible. The rugged outHne of the heights 

 which hem in the horizon alone remains unaltered. 

 The black wood which crowns the rounded hill to the 

 right is a famous deer forest. The pine-trees which 

 grow upon the slopes of the hill stand out stiffly 

 against a column of violet cloud ; they look for all 



E 



