CUAP. xxx.] FOX-HUNTING. 235 



stopped, and quietly sitting; down, appeared to listen for the dogs ; 

 and, not hearing- their cry come nearer, he came quietly and lei- 

 surely along, till he reached the track w here we had crossed the 

 corrie ; when, cautiously stopping with his nose to the ground, 

 he changed his careless manner of running to a quick canter, 

 halting now and then, and snuffing the air, to find out where the 

 enemy was concealed. Just then, too, the hounds appeared to 

 have turned to our direction, and another fox came in view, en- 

 tering the corrie to my right hand at a great pace, and making 

 directly towards me, though still at a mile's distance. The first 

 fox had approached within sixty or seventy yards of the fox- 

 hunter, when I saw a small stream of smoke issue from the rocks, 

 and the fox staggered a little, and then I heard the report of the 

 gun. The foxes both rushed down the hill again, away from us, 

 one evidently wounded ; when, the echo of the shot sounding in 

 every direction, first on one side of the conie, then on another, 

 and then apparently on every side at once, fairly puzzled the 

 poor animals. The wounded fox turned back again, and ran 

 straight towards where the fox-hunter was, while the other came 

 towards me. He was within shot, and I was only waiting till he 

 got to an open bit of ground, over which I saw he must pass, 

 when the hounds appeared in full cry at the mouth of the corrie 

 by which he had entered. Reynard stopped to look ; and 

 stretching up his head and neck to do so, gave* me a fair shot at 

 about sixty yards off. The next moment he was stretched dead, 

 with my ball through him ; while the other, quite bewildered, 

 ran almost between the legs of my fellow-chasseur, and then 

 turned back towards the dogs ; who, meeting him full in 

 the face, wounded as he was, soon caught and slew him. In a 

 short time the whole of our troops, dogs, shepherds, and all were 

 collected ; and great were the rejoicings over the fallen foe. I 

 must say, that though our game was ignoble, the novelty of the 

 proceeding*, and the wildness and magnificence of the scenery, 

 had kept m<> both amused and interested. I forget the name of 

 the coi He : it was some unpronounceable Gaelic word, signifying 

 the " Coirie of the Echo." 



