124 THE HIGHLANDER'S OPPORTUNITIES. 



There are other vermin also which he has to hunt 

 down in the mountains, assisted by his hardy pack of 

 curs. The chief of these perhaps is the marten, whose 

 abode is in the rock, and who is as great a foe to the 

 game as the fox to the sheep. And often does the 

 rocky glen ring with the music of his hounds as they 

 chase the marten to his stronghold. 



Many a day, too, he spends in the forest, tracking 

 the deer, watching their movements for hours, in order 

 to stalk them successfully ; or possibly sitting the long 

 day through beside the carcase of some slaughtered 

 monarch of the forest, till his comrades can arrive to 

 help in bearing the body homewards. 



Thus is the Highlander brought to witness the 

 grandest effects and combinations of nature and the 

 elements. He is on the shores of the loch when the 

 curtains of mist roll aside, and bare its bosom to the 

 morning sun. He is there when the dews of evening 

 sparkle on the heather bell, and the misty drapery once 

 more descends as a veil on the waters. He hears the 

 thunder- clap echoed through the mountain with the 

 crash of a ruined world ; or the roar of the wind as it 

 sweeps through the forest like " a giant refreshed with 

 wine." As he sits by the mossy marge of the burn, 

 the shadowy form of the water-wraith flits across his 

 bewildered een, or he hears the moan of some restless 

 spirit in the soughing of the summer breeze. The 

 howl of the wild-cat, the cry of the heron, disturbed at 

 his moonlight meal, the curlew's plaintive note, and 

 many another sound of life, to him have each their tale 

 to tell. The phantom fire that twinkles on the bog, 

 the varying shadows thrown by the moon across the 

 moor, betoken to him the presence of beings of another 

 mould. 



