DEER-STALKIXG. 219 



does a Highlander's pipe never draw ? and why 

 does he always light it just before going up a 

 steep hill ? 



At last, after several of my fraudulent admira- 

 tions of distant scenery, we reach the top, or such 

 an elevation as gives us command of a wide extent 

 of deer- frequented territory, and our sticks being 

 stuck in the ground, and our glasses unslung, we 

 settle down to a deliberate spy. I am very 

 anxious to fmd the deer for myself, and eagerly 

 sweep the plains far and wide with a glass which 

 I have high Bond Street authority for esteeming 

 as the best ever made ; but whether Donald's is 

 still better, or from his knowing better where to 

 look for them, or from his own superior keenness 

 of vision, his telescope first remains steady on 

 one spot, and he informs me, after some previous 

 low mutterings to Archie, that he " has them." 

 Guided by him, I make out some small red-brown 

 specks against a distant hill-side, but whether they 

 are stags or hinds, good as my glass is, I cannot 



