78 HAPPY HUNTING-GROUNDS 



brutes circled round within twenty yards of the shore ; 

 whereas to stalk them when basking on the rocks, 

 their watchful sentinels on the lookout for the slightest 

 indication of danger, with all their advantage of acute 

 vision and power of hearing, and even more useful 

 sense of scent, demands so much skill and care that 

 I rather wonder at my temerity in having already 

 directed the label which a failure will render useless 

 or premature. 



At about half-past one, having finished our round 

 and our sandwich, we started on our walk over the 

 narrow neck of ground which divides the links from 

 the long promontory of Ardskenish. We had already 

 spied a number of seals from the hill just above the 

 twelfth green, which is crowned by an ancient Celtic 

 fort, and commands a view of the reefs beyond the 

 peninsula. A survey with the glass had satisfied us 

 that the nearest rocks were not untenanted, but it 

 would require a much closer inspection to enable us 

 to select our specimen and plan the stalk. 



At length we three father, son, and spaniel 

 emerged upon a sand dune thickly covered with the 

 wiry bent grass so obnoxious to golfers who slice their 

 ball off the line at Westward Ho or Sandwich. Here 

 we all halted, and after I had put a leader on Ben, we 

 began to explore the rocks with our glasses. We had 

 not far to look. Just below us a mass of tangle- 

 covered reef stood out above sand and water, and 

 stretched away towards the south and west, and 

 less than half a mile away sixteen seals, all good 

 specimens, basked upon a flat rock divided from the 

 beach and the mainland by a narrow channel of water. 

 There was very little wind, but what there was for- 



