97 



CHAPTER IX. 



STALKING EN LUXE A LONG DAY IN A LARGE FOREST 

 . WITH VARYING LUCK. 



WE will now change the venue from Perthshire to 

 Forfarshire a count} 7 equally as wild and beautiful, 

 though differing in the character of the mountains, 

 which are rounder and "lumpier." This in some re- 

 spects makes the stalking more difficult, for the ground 

 not being so rough and broken, the shots have to be 

 taken at longer distances. 



Here also we are a long drive from the railway-station 

 twenty-three miles, but with the difference that there 

 is a good carriage-road to the hall-door. The house 

 also is large and luxurious, and surrounded by nicely 

 wooded grounds, lying nine hundred feet above the sea, 

 and altogether as picturesquely placed and comfortable 

 a dwelling as one could wish for. 



On the 17th September, 1885, a splendid autumn 

 morning had somewhat hurried us through breakfast, 

 and my host, with his big cigar well alight, and I, are 

 quickly in the saddle, and trotting along the side of 

 Loch Lee to overtake the foresters, who have gone on 

 in advance. In pleasant converse we ride along side by 

 side for about two miles, then the track narrows and 



