38 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



eye, would soon have arrested the attention of a real judge of 

 canine merit to the exclusion of all other fanciful points of 

 useless beauty. 



Wishing to take full service out of the man and his dog, 

 we set him to the large rough woods of Torlochan and Gar- 

 rochree first, reserving the Knock for the evening, if we had 

 time. After giving strict injunctions to the grieve not to 

 allow his dogs to break into Garrochree again, I chose the 

 lowest pass, where the hind eluded us before. The chance is 

 generally a long-running one, but open and broadside. The 

 dogs found at once, and stuck to their game beautifully. 

 Several times the deer came close to my pass, then seemed 

 to lose heart when facing the open, and returned to the shelter 

 of Torlochan. There was a larch plantation close to me, by 

 which deer might have skulked into Garrochree, but it was so 

 near to the cultivated ground that they were afraid to try it. 

 Yet, after several times shirking her " beaten path," the hunted 

 deer bounded down this wood within forty yards of the bush 

 where I lay in wait. The shot was so quick as to be almost 

 a snap : she darted forward like the wind. My left barrel 

 was so arrant a snap that I never saw the deer drop. After 

 despatching her with my knife, I found my first ball had 

 passed through her entrails, and the second broken both her 

 hind-legs. Had it not been for this last fortunate chance, 

 she might possibly have escaped for the present, although 

 certain to die soon after in the woods. 



Before disturbing Garrochree, we went by the side of Loch 

 Baa to a small lonely oak copse, where a good hart had har- 

 boured all summer. My pass was again the low one, and by 

 lying flat I had the benefit of a fine rest for the rifle. No 

 sooner into covert than the pack opened, and in a short time 

 I spied the stag's horns coming out of the wood. It was an 

 enviable chance fair, open, slow, and broadside. It would 

 have been a bungle had he not dropt to shot. Weight, 1*7 

 stone, and a very good head. 



