THE SEARCH RENEWED. 29 



Donald had given us of his destructiveness. Scotch 

 foxes are longer in the leg, and altogether stronger, 

 than most of their brethren south of the Tweed, though 

 I believe Welsh foxes are very similar ; and in the 

 severe weather they are very daring in their attacks on 

 the sheep ; so that, besides avenging ourselves for the 

 trick played upon us by our vulpine enemy, we had 

 also done no slight service to the shepherd. 



Such was our first independent " stalk." Reader, 

 you may, as no doubt you will, enjoy a good laugh at 

 our " gullibility ;" but we do not yet profess to be more 

 than tyros, and we must, like other learners, be dealt 

 with leniently in our early blunders, or you will crush 

 our communicativeness in the bud, and hear no more 

 from the " Land o' Cakes." Bear with me therefore 

 patiently, while I promise you something better is 

 coming. 



On turning over the carcase of our fox, and robbing 

 him of his brush, which we purposed carrying off as a 

 trophy in memory of our first unaided attempt at 

 deer-stalking, we began to examine the bearings of the 

 compass, and make out our position. From what we 

 recollected of the general features of the ground from 

 the view we had had in the morning, we came to the 

 conclusion that we could not be very far from the pass 

 through which the herd of deer took their way after 

 leaving Cohr an Dhu, and so we at once set off in 

 what we judged to be the right direction. Our opinion 

 was soon confirmed; for, on passing over some soft 

 ground, we found the marks of deer almost as thick 

 as though a flock of sheep had gone by ; and, from 

 the way in which the earth was torn up, it was evi- 

 dent that they must have been going at a rapid pace. 



These tracks therefore we followed, and presently 



