SEEKING A SABBATH DINNER. 57 



oracle, throwing aside his reserve, poured forth his 

 responses in fluent English. " What for was he lame ? 

 'Twas just naething more than a fulish fall owre a craig 

 wi' a stag he had wounded." And then he proceeded 

 to tell us how, when on a poaching venture, he had 

 watched the beast grazing in security above a high 

 craig; how he had stalked it, wounded it mortally, and 

 brought it to the ground ; how, in his haste lest any 

 of the keepers should unpleasantly interrupt him, he 

 had then run in upon the deer to "gralloch," or stab it 

 to the heart, thinking it to be at its last gasp; and 

 how he was unpleasantly surprised, on grasping an 

 antler, to find the beast sufficiently vigorous to spring 

 blindly forward; and how, before there was time to 

 extricate himself, both he and the deer, the slayer and 

 the slain, had rolled over the precipice together, and 

 after a most marvellous but unpleasant succession of 

 falls, thumps, struggles, and bruises, both lay breath- 

 less at the foot of the crag. The deer, having fortu- 

 nately fallen undermost, had broken the force of the 

 shock to him, which however had been so severe as to 

 fracture his leg. " But," said he, " I sune drew his 

 life's blood ; and there," he added, " is his head," 

 pointing to a deer's mask on the wall, " which I hae 

 keepit, and shall aye keep to my dying day." We 

 examined the head, which, however, was not remarkable 

 for its size; though, no doubt, for old association's 

 sake, it was worth more to him than " siller or gowd." 



" But, Bob," asked Donald, " winna ye just tell the 

 gentleman about the big stag ye were three days in the 

 killing?" 



" 'Deed, will I," was the gracious reply. But here, 

 Reader, you must allow me to give the story in my 

 own words. To recall those of Bob would be too 



