194 FORAYS AMONG SALMON AND DEER. 



ADDITIONAL. 



BEING 



EXTRACTS FROM MY DIARY OF A SUBSEQUENT SEASON, 

 WITH OTHER KINDRED MATTER. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Expedition to the Hills. Scanning the Ground. Dead Deer. Search 

 continued. Game found. Awkward Position. "Gone away," 

 The Pass. The Shot. Instinct at Fault. Anecdote of Flamingoes. 



THE early dawn beheld Alister and myself with our 

 rifles seated in the dog-cart, drawn by our old friends 

 a pair of lively Highland ponies ; and a brisk drive of 

 five miles brought us to the place of rendezvous, where 

 Gillespie by appointment was to meet us. It was at 

 the foot of the wild " craig of the raven's nest," and we 

 found the forester lying beneath the shelter of a large 

 stone, snugly enveloped in the folds of his ample 

 plaid, and fast asleep ; for we were somewhat behind the 

 appointed time, and he had been waiting for us a good 

 hour. Another good hour's walking brought us into 

 the depths of a romantic glen, which terminated in 

 shady woods of the graceful birch, overhung on all 

 sides save one by masses of rock, piled high in the air, 

 riven and battered by the hurricanes of ages, and cleft 

 at the extreme end of the glen, by the rugged bed of a 

 fair sized burn, by which a loch buried in the hills 

 beyond found a vent for the superabundance of its 

 waters. Here, at the skirts of the wood, we paused to 

 scan with our telescopes the face of the hills rising to 

 our right. There were roe-deer near us among the 

 birches, but to-day we were in quest of larger game. 

 The curtain of mist was now gradually rolling away 



