180 FORAYS AMONG SALMON AND DEER. 



that distance, we agreed to postpone operations till the 

 morrow. 



Having replenished " the inner man " with a portion 

 of the venison slaughtered when we were last at the 

 cottage, with sundry other viands, rendered savoury by 

 that optimum condimentum a good appetite, we invited 

 the fox-hunter to join us over a glass of toddy, on the 

 understanding that he should in return amuse us, as 

 he had done on a former occasion, by relating some of 

 his sporting reminiscences. 



The following are a few of the scraps which my 

 imperfect knowledge of the language in which he spoke 

 enabled me to collect. 



He was sitting one day in spring, on the side of Ben 

 Fuoghlin, occupied in tending a flock of sheep. The 

 lambs were gambolling round their mothers, or, divided 

 into little bands, were chasing each other across the 

 brae, the picture of security and happiness. But how 

 often is the cup dashed from the lip ! An eagle 

 suddenly darted by him, and stooping on the ter- 

 rified flock, rose again a moment after, bearing off a 

 lamb in his talons. As they mounted into the air, the 

 poor little thing bleated piteously, and struggled so 

 hard that for a time it seemed as though it must 

 escape. But the tyrant's grip was too tight; and 

 having no gun with him, wherewith to stop the 

 marauder in his career, Gillespie could only watch 

 until both captor and caught were lost in the opposite 

 heights of Creag-na-Sturm. On another occasion he 

 saw an eagle seize a lamb in the same manner, but 

 before they had travelled far, the lamb, by a sudden 

 jerk, managed to free itself ; and the eagle, on seeing 

 the fox-hunter, went off without its prey, though it was 

 killed on the spot by the fall. It is not often however 

 that this noble bird commits any depredations on the 



