PROVOKING INTERRUPTION. 243 



were confident therefore that their alarm had arisen 

 from no blunder on our part. The difficulty however was 

 soon solved, when we observed a shepherd's dog creep- 

 ing up the side of the knoll on which they had been 

 lying, and gazing about him when he reached the 

 summit, and found the game gone. The shepherd 

 had heeded our injunctions, in being careful to keep 

 to our rear himself, but his caution had not extended 

 to his dog ; which, on coming across our track, had no 

 doubt followed in our wake to see the fun, and on 

 winding the deer, had attempted to stalk on his own 

 account. 



This was provoking enough, and ruffled my temper 

 considerably ; but nothing remained but to repair the 

 failure by renewed operations, having first secured the 

 dog, to prevent further interruptions of the kind we 

 had just experienced. This latter was soon done, 

 and Roderick the gilly was sent back with the truant 

 to his master, with orders that the shepherd should 

 keep a watch on his dogs as well as sheep. And now 

 we started for another essay. 



Having already disturbed deer both to the right and 

 left, we this time turned off in the direction taken by 

 those we had seen first, in the hope that they might 

 have stayed somewhere within reach. After walking 

 for some time without discovering anything, we at 

 length made out the object of our search, two hinds, 

 and three young stags, feeding along the steep side of 

 a hill, in a direction away from us. They were 

 quite unapproachable at present, but evidently working 

 their way towards a pass, through which they would 

 eventually emerge on an open piece of ground, the 

 undulations of which might enable us to get in upon 

 them. Again therefore we were forced to bide our 

 time. Sandwiches were discussed, a nip of whisky 



