THE COUP D'ESSAI. 231 



rest of his litter ; nay, if he were slipped on the moor, he 

 would go back alone to the last deer that was killed, 

 although it were many miles distant, and protect it through 

 the night from the fox, the wild cat, the eagle, or the raven.* 



All now good-humouredly tried to make out the hind a 

 yeld one ; but it would not do ; she evidently gave suck,, 

 and was also singularly lean. 



" Never mind, Lightfoot ; she richly deserved her fate ; 

 for it was a wicked deed to place herself where she did. So 

 pray be comforted." 



" No, no, it will not do. The Badenoch fairy's speech 

 rings in my ears, saying, or seeming to say, ' O Lightfoot, 

 Lightfoot, thou hast this day slain the only maid iu Doune.' " 



" Never mind, these things occur to us all ; the hart had 

 a very narrow escape from your ball. You heard our friend 

 from the south brag the other day how nearly he had killed 

 a deer; and when you asked him in what manner, he re- 

 plied that his ball struck the spot where the deer had been 

 lying the day before. You were much nearer than this, 

 you know. It was no bad shot after all, and will be of in- 

 finite service to you as an instruction to take your aim for- 

 warder in future. I began my career nearly in the same 

 way, and learned a good lesson from it." 



" Then the first deer you killed was a hind? Well, that's 

 some comfort, however." 



" No, I mistake ; not the first. My coup d'essai was at 

 a hart. I set off from Blair Castle with the Duke of 

 Atholl for Forest Lodge at twenty minutes past three 

 o'clock in the morning. There were no deer feeding in the 

 glen ; so we breakfasted, and I began fishing for salmon. 

 After a time, whilst very intent on my cast, I heard a noise 

 above me, and, looking round, I saw a stag running at full 

 speed along the slope of the hill, with two lurchers at his 

 heels. Quickly did I clamber up the rocks. John Crerer 

 was in the road with a rifle ; and, as he was in the act of 

 raising it to his shoulder, in I came behind, took it from his 

 hand, fired, and hit the deer through the jaw. The poor 

 chop-fallen fellow then went to bay, where I finished him ; 



* A beautiful painting, by Mr. Edwin Landseer, of this sagacious dog, 

 thus engaged, will be in the recollection of many. 



