84 FARLEY, 1919 



breaking week as last was never the sign of a 

 stag except the two which I lost in the blizzard. 

 And I must say I was very disappointed, as with 

 the severe weather and so much stalking going on 

 up the glen in the neighbouring forests, I made 

 sure there would be deer on the ground; but the 

 hinds would never leave Erchless, and where there 

 are no hinds there will be no stags till right at the 

 end of the season, so I hope there will be no hind 

 shooting on Farley this winter, as there was none 

 on Erchless, and then perhaps we may have a 

 chance next season. 



The next day, the 2nd, was my turn again. 

 Billy Smith and I had been having alternate days 

 of anguish and disappointment, as he had been 

 unable to go south on account of the railway 

 strike, and it looked like being another blank day 

 of " agony, rage, and despair; oh, where have they 

 gone to, oh, where ?" for we could find nothing in 

 the morning in spite of a most diligent search all 

 over and around the west and north hills, so we 

 lunched at the top of the ravine close on the 

 march, and were sadly and sorrowfully retracing 

 our footsteps when surely, unless my old eyes 

 deceived me, there were some beasts away a mile 

 or two in front of us on the flats below the Duck 

 Loch. Our glasses soon showed us they were a 

 small lot of about a dozen hinds and two or three 

 stags poor beasts, but still better than nothing 

 so Susan and I were wonderfully cheered and John 



