132 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CHAP. xxn. 



next moment almost I saw one about six feet in length standing 

 upright in the ground. I could scarcely believe my eyes. The 

 stick must have been left by mere chance by some shepherd. It 

 came most opportunely for me, however. The first place I tried 

 in the water with it (a spot where I thought I could wade), it 

 went in to the depth of at least five feet. This would never do ; 

 so on I went up the hill, splashing through the wet bog and heather. 

 At last I came to a place in the burn, where, by leaping from 

 one stone to the other, at no small risk to myself, I managed to 

 get across. My poor hound had to swim, and was very nearly 

 carried off by the stream. Instead of turning down again towards 

 the river, I still kept the high ground, remembering that I had 

 to pass through two or three other burns, one of them, at least, 

 much larger than any I had already crossed. I had now to make 

 my way over a long flat, covered with coarse grass, and full of 

 holes of water and rotten bog. I never walked a more weary 

 mile in my life, sinking, as I did, up to my knees at nearly every 

 step. When in the middle of this, I saw three hinds and a calf 

 walk deliberately along a ridge not three hundred yards from me. 

 I had to lead the hound for some distance, as she lost all her 

 fatigue on coming on their scent, which she did as we passed 

 their track. I made no attempt on them, knowing the useless 

 state of my rifle. We kept on, and at last got across all the 

 burns excepting the largest, which was still between me and my 

 cry clothes and dinner. I had now got quite high up in the 

 barren hill, leaving every thing but rock and heather far below 

 me, the birch-woods not extending above half a mile from the 

 river. I came here to another long flat piece of ground ; and 

 having to make many windings and turnings to cross different 

 small streams, I suddenly discovered that I had entirely lost my 

 points of the compass. So, sitting down, I tried to make out 

 which way the wind blew, as my only guide. This soon set me 

 right ; and after another hour or two of weary walking, I found 

 myself on the hill-top almost immediately overhanging the 

 Lodge, the smoke from whose chimneys was a most welcome 

 sight. On getting to it, I found the river raging and pouring 

 down through its narrow banks in a manner that no one who has 

 not seen a Highland river in full flood can imagine, carrying 

 with it every kind of debris that its course could produce. 



