HOOKING AN OTTER. 99 



CHAPTER III. 



Forests of Badenoch, their rights and divisions. Legend of Prince Charles. Cluny Mac- 

 pherson. Adventure with a wolf. Macpherson of Braekally. Children lost on a 

 moor. Sportsmen benighted. Witchcraft. Uncomfortable position. Eraser's 

 cairn. Boundaries of Gawick. Fate ef Walter Gumming. Wrath of a fairy. 

 Destructive avalanche. Convivial resolution. Arrival at Bruar Lodge during the 

 night-storm. 



The sun went down behind the hill, 



The moor grew dim and stern ; 

 And soon an utter darkness fell 



O'er mountain, rock, and burn. 



THE party now separated, the artist being bound for Blair. 

 Tortoise and his friend struck across the hills towards Bruar 

 Lodge, from which they were about eight or nine miles 

 distant. 



" Not bad, that supposition of our friend the artist," said 

 Tortoise, "that he had hooked the great sea-snake; but one 

 does hook strange things sometimes ; as, for instance, Mr. 

 James Rose, a friend of Mr. Skene of Rubislaw, was fishing 

 on his property in the river Dee, it was snowing very 

 thickly, and he had on his line a large fly, full four inches 

 long, called there the black dog. In a short time he hooked 

 what he conceived to be a fine strong salmon, who, however, 

 worked as salmon never worked before, dragging the fisher- 

 man down the stream at the top of his speed, and making 

 his arms quiver again ; at length, to his great surprise, the 

 animal began to give tongue, and he found he had hooked 

 an otter by the muzzle. This increased his ardour, and he 

 dashed along, at some risk, through the water, and over 

 great blocks of stone, till at length a high projecting rock 

 impeded his progress. Mr. Rose, however, was determined 

 enough to throw himself into the Dee, and swim for some 

 distance, rod in hand, after the otter ; but unfortunately, 

 his tackle failed, and the brute at length got off. Probably, 

 however, he was killed afterwards; for a tenant of Mr. 

 Skene, whose house was close to the water, was awakened 

 one clear frosty night by screams and extraordinary sounds 

 issuing from the river: he arose quickly, under an impres- 

 sion that some one had fallen into the Dee ; when, to his 

 relief, he descried two otters upon a large mass of floating 



