xxxii DEER ON THE HILL 281 



which in a somewhat sulky mood he kicked out of their damp 

 homes about the edge of the burn. Presently the ring-ousel 

 began to whistle on the hill-side, and the cock grouse to crow 

 in the valley below us. Roused by these omens of better 

 weather, I looked out from our shelter, and saw the face of 

 the sun struggling to show itself through the masses of cloud, 

 while the rain fell in larger but more scattered drops. In a 

 quarter of an hour the clouds were rapidly disappearing, and 

 the face of the hill as quickly opening to our view. We 

 remained under shelter a few minutes longer, when suddenly, 

 as if by magic, or like the lifting of the curtain at a theatre, 

 the whole hill was perfectly clear from clouds, and looked more 

 bright and splendidly beautiful than anything I had ever seen. 

 No symptoms were left of the rain, excepting the drops on the 

 heather, which shone like diamonds in the evening sun. The 

 masses of rock came out in every degree of light and shade, 

 from dazzling white to the darkest purple, streaked here and 

 there with the overpourings of the swollen rills and springs, 

 which danced and leapt from rock to rock, and from crag to 

 crag, looking like streams of silver. 



" How beautiful ! " was both my inward and outward ex- 

 clamation. " 'Deed it's not just so dour as it was," said Donald ; 

 " but, the Lord guide us ! look at yon," he continued, fixing 

 his eye on a distant slope, at the same time slowly winding up 

 his line and pouching his trout, of which he had caught a goodly 

 number. " Tak your perspective, Sir, and look there," he added, 

 pointing with his chin. I accordingly took my perspective, as 

 he always called my pocket -telescope, and saw a long line of 

 deer winding from amongst the broken granite in single file 

 down towards us. They kept advancing one after the other, 

 and had a most singular appearance as their line followed the 

 undulations of the ground. They came slowly on, to the 

 number of more than sixty (all hinds, not a horn amongst them), 

 till they arrived at a piece of table-land four or five hundred 

 yards from us, when they spread about to feed, occasionally 

 shaking ofT the raindrops from their hides, much in the same 

 manner as a dog does on coming out of the water. 



" They are no that canny,'' said Donald. " Nous verrons" 

 said I. " What's your wull ? " was his answer ; " I'm no un- 

 derstanding Latin, though my wife has a cousin who is a placed 



