SEPTEMBER 227 



minable steeps ; he may have aped the careless confid- 

 ence with which his guide examines fen and corrie, 

 hill-face and crag as familiar to the guardian of the 

 beat as the chambers of a mansion to its housekeeper ; 

 he may even be as quick in detecting deer as the other ; 

 but as soon as they are detected, he falls into his place ; 

 he ceases to be an individual and becomes ' a rifle ' an 

 automaton to be set in motion by the master of the craft. 



After a prolonged inspection through his glass of the 

 dusky objects a mile distant in the corrie, Donald pro- 

 nounces three out of the fifty or so to be good beasts and 

 ' shootable.' I am filled with marvel, as usual, at the 

 power of discernment, little short of superhuman, it 

 seems to me, which enables a man to pronounce the 

 weight and age of a creature so distant that it looks 

 like an undersized house-fly. I can tell a good head 

 afar off; but if I say anything about it, I am generally 

 told that it is accompanied by a poor body, and must 

 not be shot. So I have learned not only to be dumb 

 on such occasions, but to refrain from entertaining any 

 independent opinion whatever. 



Well, Donald, having decided that the beasts were 

 worth stalking, set off on a detour of two or three miles, 

 to arrive within business range of them. Hitherto it 

 had been wet indeed very wet but the hill had given 

 shelter from the blast ; now, as we climbed the comb of 

 the ridge, it battered us to some purpose. Bitter, bitter 

 cold ; as we mounted higher the rain changed to sleet, 

 then to soft snow. Nothing to complain of, this, while 

 moving briskly; the trial came when we reached the 



