LIFE AT ROSEHALL. 51 



" Bravo, Donald ! well missed ! " I could not help calling 

 out as I passed him, running as hard as I could to help the dogs. 

 The old man was not long in joining me ; and the dogs were soon 

 got off. The stag was bled, and then examined all over to see 

 where he had been struck. 



" 'Deed, sir," said Donald, pointing to the rifle, " she is as gleg 

 and kittle to handle as " 



Here he paused as if at a dead loss for a simile ; which 

 I was obliged to help him to at last by suggesting, " As your 

 own wife, Donald." At which he indulged in a low inward 

 chuckle and a pinch of snuff, without, however, denying the 

 " soft impeachment." 



On looking at the stag, we found that he had evidently been 

 very lately shot at, and that one of his forelegs was broken above 

 the knee the bone smashed entirely, and the leg hanging on by 

 the skin, which would have soon worn through ; the animal, hav- 

 ing lost the encumbrance of the broken limb, would soon, if left 

 in quiet, have entirely recovered. We prepared our game for 

 being " left till called for," and sat down to our luncheon. My 

 account to Donald of the death of my other stag was interrupted 

 by a most desperate battle between the dogs, who had fallen out 

 over the dead body ; and being pretty well matched in size and 

 courage, we had great difficulty in reducing them to order and 

 compelling them to keep the peace. 



I had a pleasant though not very bloody afternoon's shooting 

 going home, killing seven brace of wild-flying grouse, a mallard, 

 and two blackcocks. The night had set in before we were half 

 way through the woods in which the last two or three miles of 

 our road lay ; we could hear numberless owls hooting and calling 

 on the tops of old larch trees. Everything else was as still as 

 death. 



" 'Deed, sir, that 's no' canny ! " exclaimed my companion, as 

 an owl with peculiar vigour of lungs uttered his wild cry close 

 to us, and then, flitting past our faces, alighted on the opposite 

 side of the avenue we were walking along, and recommenced 

 his song of bad omen. " If it wasn't so dark, I'd empty the 



