DEER STALKING. 225 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



If a man were obliged to chronicle with brevity the 

 leading events of our terra incognita^ I would advise him 

 to reduce them to " arrivals and departures." As the 

 door is never locked, the stream of visitors is incessant. 

 Every man coming from " the corners of the earth " 

 drops in with a " God save all here ! " This is the 

 Shibboleth of Ballycroy ; the accredited letter of intro- 

 duction, and, better for the traveller still, a full acquit- 

 tance for meat, drink, and lodging. 



This morning we have had an illiterative arrival — 

 a piper, a pedler, and a priest. Although I place them 

 according to their order of approach, I need scarcely 

 say that the last, our respected friend, has given unex- 

 pected pleasure. For me, the visit is delightful, for I 

 hope to obtain another lesson in the " gentle art." The 

 Colonel has embraced this '* Walton of the wilderness ; " 

 a man on whom four bottles would not show, and to 

 whom, in woodcraft and theology, in the commander's 

 opinion, the clerk of Copmanhurst himself was little 

 better than a bungler ; and, notwithstanding my 

 kinsman's delinquency in intercepting the despatches, 

 and abstracting the enclosure, he has escaped with a 

 tap or two upon the cheek ; for, as Antony declares, 

 " Father Andrew dotes upon the Master.'' 



But a shepherd in breathless haste has rushed into the 

 cabin. By expressive signs, and a few words, he has 

 conveyed the intelligence to Mr. Hennessey that three 

 outlying deer are at this minute in a neighbouring glen. 

 He saw them in a valley, as he crossed the brow above. 



Q 



