PLEASANT PLACES 7 



resuming them when the stubble or pasture had 

 been crossed, and roots or potatoes again reached. 

 Perhaps some of his younger guests occasionally felt, 

 if they did not show, some impatience at this leisurely 

 method of procedure, but it is surely right that he 

 who pays the piper should call the tune, and probably 

 we were all really the better for the enforced delays 

 which so frequently interrupted the arduous tramp 

 through the heavy root crops and matted potato 

 haulms of Kincardineshire. Perhaps the shooting 

 lunches would be looked upon as somewhat Spartan in 

 these degenerate days, but there was always abundance 

 of sandwiches, biscuits, and bread and cheese, with 

 whisky and water in moderation. There was also a 

 very prolific snipe bog in the neighbourhood of the 

 house, where I once enjoyed an excellent day's sport in 

 company with one of Sir Thomas's nephews, a midship- 

 man who afterwards, if my memory serves me rightly, 

 became an Admiral. Glendye, the famous grouse moor, 

 was within a ride, or drive, and occasionally the guests 

 at Fasque had the good fortune to take part in a grouse 

 drive there, although the regular shooting was then 

 usually compressed into a fortnight or three weeks in 

 August, when Sir Thomas and his friends used to 

 migrate to the little lodge and enjoy excellent sport 

 over dogs on the well-stocked slopes that surround 

 Mount Battock. Here also he used to walk with the 

 best of them ; and, to complete the catalogue of the 

 sports which he permitted me to share, I must not 

 omit to add that there was a cricket ground in the 

 park at Fasque where he and I have taken part in a 

 game with his servants and retainers. I can boast 

 or perhaps "record" would be a more appropriate 



