MARCH 93 



wounded, called out for a dog. Tofts let go a gaunt, 

 rusty-coated animal which disappeared on the trail and 

 was seen no more for a while. We sat down to luncheon, 

 and were half finished before the animal reappeared, with- 

 out the hare. On being asked whether he thought the 

 dog had caught the hare and left it, Tofts bent down, 

 seized his dog's muzzle, and smelt it. ' No,' said he, ' I 

 think he has not been in contack with it.' 



Then there was Alec Boyle a robust, rather short, 

 swarthy fellow, with a merry eye, a great crony of mine 

 in my school holidays, possessed of the only good retriever 

 in the establishment presided over by John Pace. It was 

 a creature of patchwork pedigree, fearfully and wonder- 

 fully made, brindled in unearthly fashion with drab and 

 black, but of intelligence almost human. Alec's chief 

 failing was of a convivial nature, which once afforded a 

 parliamentary candidate a fine opportunity for a platform 

 joke. The occasion was an election meeting in a moor- 

 land schoolhouse ; to describe the night as inclement 

 would be to pay it an undeserved compliment. The 

 wind raved and the rain poured ; finding a weak place 

 in the roof, a drip descended on Alec's curly black head. 

 He shifted his place several times, till the candidate, 

 interrupting his dissertation, observed ' That is the first 

 time I have ever seen Mr. Boyle decline a drop ! ' a 

 topical allusion which found instant appreciation among 

 the audience. 



Tom Hogg was another well-remembered worthy, now 

 passed to his rest. A native of Ettrick, I believe, where 

 others of his surname have left their mark, he is con- 

 nected with some of my earliest and brightest recollec- 

 tions of shooting, for he had charge of some of the late 



