112 DAYS OF DEER-STALKING. 



morning. I'll match you yet. But by all the gods above, 

 I will make such a dinner this night as shall content my 

 inward man, and distress your menage exceedingly." 



" Never fear, we are tolerably provided." 



And now they were before the rugged walls of old Bruar. 

 Out came a servant with a lighted candle, twinkling, and 

 vainly contending with the rain and wind. The door at 

 the end of the little passage opened upon a blazing fire of 

 bog-wood and peat ; the table-cloth was invitingly spread. 

 Each before dressing drank a tumbler 



" Di quel buon Claretto, benedetto, 

 Che si spilla in Avignone. " 



And here we leave our men to the performance of such 

 convivial deeds as Abernethy abhorred, and Cornaro was 

 an utter stranger to. 



CHAPTER TV. 



TREATING OF THE NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS FOR A 

 DEER-STALKER, WITH A FEW HINTS TO HIM. 



Necessary qualifications for a deer-stalker. Curious attitudes required. Sheep almost 

 superfluous. Advantages of baldness. Self-possession indispensable. Abstinence 

 from drinking, and restrictions in food. Gormandizer's pastime. Royal diversion. 

 Sportsman's philosophy. George Ritchie, the fiddler. Crafty movements. 

 Currents of air. Passing difficult ground. Range of the rifle. Firing at the target. 

 Tempestuous winds. A tyro's distress. Overwhelming kindness. Of speed and 

 wind. John Selwyn. Wilson, the historian. Glengarry. 



-"0, this life 



Is nobler than attending for a check ; 

 Richer than doing nothing for a bauble ; 

 Prouder, than rustling in unpaid-for silk." 



Cynibeline. 



I WAS so impatient to get on the moor, and to plunge at 

 once, as it were, in medias res, that I omitted in the first 

 instance to describe what sort of properties a deer-stalker 

 should be decorated with. And although most of these 

 might be easily divined by the practised sportsman from a 

 perusal of these pages, still it may be as well to touch 

 slightly upon a few others that are absolutely indispens- 

 able. 



