A RECORD DAY 141 



It was with many misgivings that I proceeded 

 thither in response to the urgent request of the 

 shooting tenant for a third time round. As we passed 

 the door of the keeper's house, that worthy imparted 

 the startHng information that ''the Talladale dogues 

 had bin rinnin* yammerin' aboot sin grey dayhcht." 

 This was the description given of a small trencher- 

 fed pack that occasionally made incursions into our 

 territory on days when we were at the other side, so 

 mischievous persons said. 



But there was nothing for it than to go on, 

 which we did at the very moment when a tired 

 and draggled-looking fox crossed the avenue in 

 front of us, of course taking hounds along with 

 him, and with a burst of music that fairly made 

 the tree-tops tremble. They chased him through 

 the rhododendron bushes and once round the garden, 

 and caught him behind the house by the river-side. 

 In the midst of the struggling mass were two 

 couple of strange hounds all peat-stained and travel- 

 soiled, and with long unrounded ears ; and after 

 the trophies were saved and the fox was eaten, a 

 heated youth on a panting pony arrived shouting 

 excitedly, '' Where's my fox ? " and was not over- 

 pleased when it was explained to him that his fox 

 had been accidentally killed and devoured. 



Two futile hours were spent in drawing every 

 bit of holding on this and the adjoining estate all 

 blank, when Tom Telfer's hawk eye caught sight 

 of two horsemen on the sky-line apparently coming 

 in. Holding hounds together, and waiting and 

 watching, we were not long in making out the 

 white form of a light-coloured hound in the distance 



