68 MY SPORTING HOLIDAYS 



His spare moments were chiefly occupied in spying 

 the steep sides of Ben Loyal above the birch-wood, 

 three miles or so awav. from a convenient hillock 



/ 7 



across the road from the lodge. And it was news 

 of serious moment, to be imparted with proper cere- 

 mony in the gun-room after dinner, that he had spied 

 what might be a good beast that morning on the east 

 shoulder, or maybe feeding, as it might happen, in 

 the evening, out of the birch-wood and up the western 

 corrie. 



In my youthful ardour of those days for the chase 

 of the bigger game, an ardour only whetted by my 

 recent experiences in Norway and in the Rockies, 

 I was naturally inclined to fall in with Sandy's views- 

 all the more so, perhaps, because the rest of the party 

 preferred, for the most part, the milder joys of the 

 rod and the gun, and persisted in leaving to the 

 writer the monopoly of the red-deer ' on the hill.' 



The passage of time has wrought, to some extent, 

 its changes. The charm of grouse- shooting in pleasant 

 company has, if anything, increased its hold upon 

 my affections. The lonely fascinations of trout- 

 fishing in a wild mountain stream, or in some distant 

 loch nestling among the everlasting hills, to say 

 nothing of the more strenuous occupation of flogging 

 some rocky, rapid salmon river, only seem to gain 

 in attractiveness ; and, when it comes to the choice 

 of a pastime, the desire for these relaxations grows 

 upon one with the increase of experience and the 

 advent of middle age. Yet the pursuit of the larger 

 and more noble wild animal will always, where the 

 particular predilection exists, touch a deeper sporting 

 chord, and appeal more strongly to the innate preda- 

 tory instinct of the able-bodied hunter. 



