6o The Course, the Camp, the Chase 



concealment within range of as many " runs " as possible, 

 generally where two or three crossed each other. Strangers 

 who came to shoot were not always very clever in selecting 

 the right spot, and chose a convenient resting-place for 

 themselves instead of noting the trend of the paths, so 

 that every hare would pass at such a distance as gave 

 them a long shot instead of a close one ; hares, too, look 

 much nearer than they really are, as one sees every inch 

 of them on the moss, so that at first the distance is apt to 

 be very much miscalculated. Sometimes from these 

 causes the guests were apt to be a little sore at the end of 

 a " drive," when we boys, always stationed on the flanks, 

 produced more hares with our muzzle-loaders than they 

 did, armed with the newest breech-loaders and placed in 

 the best situations. 



My eldest brother and I once had a very rough ride 

 at night which, together with other experiences, helps to 

 confirm my belief that horses see fairly well on the very 

 darkest of nights. We had ridden two moor ponies over 

 the hill to fish in Loch Tay, accompanied by one of the 

 gillies, whose house was on the shore of the lake, and 

 when we were about to return home Duncan requested 

 leave to stay for the night, the next day being Sunday. 

 Thinking that we had daylight enough to reach the boundary 

 of the moor before it became dark we consented, but before 

 long a storm burst upon us, and our progress was much 

 slower than we had expected. As we neared a shepherd's 

 cottage, not far from the march, it was almost dark, and 

 the Marquis of Breadalbane having recently erected a wire 

 deer fence along the boundary, in which was only a small 

 gate that gave ingress to the Auchnafree Moor, we decided 

 to seek the aid of the shepherd, for fear we should not 



