STRANGE TRADITION. 125 



We were now all speedily aroused, and a cquucil of 

 war held. We decided that the first step must be to 

 break our fast ; the second, to examine our arsenal, 

 clean what needed it ; and then, should the day be still 

 unfavourable, to amuse ourselves as best we might, by 

 listening to the fox-hunter's tales of adventure, of 

 which I was assured he had a goodly store. 



The guns on inspection proved to be very foul ; 

 being all loaded with ball, and having on the previous 

 evening been left just as we had brought them home ; 

 but though then quite clean and fit for immediate use, 

 the rain of the night had rusted them very much, 

 besides damping the powder. The process of cleaning, 

 and our breakfast occupied an hour or more ; and 

 then, the prospect being still gloomy as it could well be, 

 we called upon the fox-hunter to draw from the 

 treasures of his memory "things new and old." 



Behold us, then, as the curtain rises : Walter and 

 myself stretched lazily on the couch ; Gillespie and 

 the shepherd perched on broken chairs. The lips of 

 the former are unsealed by a dram taken " neat," fol- 

 lowed by the usual preliminary, a pinch of " snee-shin." 

 Our first story relates to the length of a deer's life. 



There is a tradition, said by our informant to be 

 preserved in the family of the Mackenzies of Brahan 

 Castle, to the following effect. 



Many generations ago, the male calf of a red deer 

 was reared as a pet in the family. Though a great 

 favourite while young and harmless, its popularity 

 gradually declined as its age increased, and its play 

 became rough and even dangerous. Allowed to roam 

 at large, bearing a silver collar about its neck, as the 

 badge of servitude, it eventually broke away from this 

 easy thraldom and returned to its native hills. Still, 

 however, less timid than its brethren, it continued 



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