180 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



comprehending and obeying, till at last it can perform feats 

 that perfectly astonish those who have not seen the gradual 

 process. My retriever, before spoken of, gave many proofs of 

 sagacity which excited the admiration of those who saw them ; 

 and yet I did not consider him at all more knowing than the 

 old pointer whose cut I have already given. A superficial 

 observer would wonder at the comparison ; but, independent 

 of the tact and ingenuity displayed by the pointer in finding 

 game, I feel convinced that if his educational advantages and 

 temper had been the same as the retriever's, he would have 

 equalled him in his own 'beat} 



To illustrate my meaning, I may mention a feat or two of 

 each : Having wounded a rabbit on the moors when the 

 pointer was behind a knoll, but fancying, from the agility 

 with which it made its escape, that I had missed it altogether, 

 I was surprised to see him shortly afterwards bring a rabbit 

 and deliberately lay it down at my feet. It would have been 

 nothing if the dog had been taught to fetch and carry ; but 

 on the contrary, he was, of course, broken to drop at the shot, 



1 Both these invaluable dogs have been under the sod for some years. They 

 died of pure old age and hard work. One day, shortly before the old pointer's 

 last 12th of August, a knowing keeper remarked to my man, " Surely you don't 

 mean to hunt that dog. Why, he is not fit to walk along the road, let alone 

 travelling the moors." Never was man more " out." According to my custom, 

 I threw off with old Cigar and his comrade at eight o'clock, and hunted them till 

 two, when they were relieved by a fresh pair. I shot till nearly eight in the 

 evening, and bagged thirty -five brace. Fully the half fell to the old dog's point, 

 and I never saw him hunt or find better in his life. It was his twelfth 12th ! 

 He died the following spring, and was immortalised by a <%-gerel epitaph : 



" We climbed the rocky hills, and trod the heather, 

 And many a 12th of August have we seen together. 

 At length thy foot grew weary, age its only clog ; 

 And here thou art at rest, my poor old dog ! " 



Poor Gruff died a couple of years after Cigar, but I have never been able to 

 replace him by a worthy successor at least, by one uniting all his excellences. 

 A Tweed spaniel came the nearest to him in docility, but, like most of these 

 silken gentry, he is shy of the water in cold weather. Gruff was as hardy in the 

 winter-storm as a walrus. Many years after, I was so fortunate as to possess 

 another retriever, nearly, but not quite, his equal. He also is described in this 

 work. 



