290 NETHER LOCHABER. 



of the first order. "What do you call himr' " Speach," lie 



replied, and spemh, our non-Gaelic readers must be told, means a 



wasp or hornet, and, even like a wasp, we knew that that little 



fellow with his dander up in the labyrinthine recesses of a fox's 



den or a badger's garaidh, would fight against any odds until he 



was torn into ribbons, and on each and every occasion would prove 



himself 



" Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer," 



which old Eobertson of Struan admirably rendered into our native 

 Doric, without the loss of a particle of meaning or force — 



" A fiery ettercap, a fractious chiel, 

 As het as ginger, and as stieve as steel ! 



" And is ' Speach ' good, then, Donald ? " we inquired. " Yes, sir," 

 was the reply, " a very good little dog. He is but small, you see, 

 and light ; the smallest, indeed, at present in my pack, but he 

 will take hold of fox or badger or otter at the readiest spot that 

 offers, and, having once got hold, will never let go again while his 

 antagonist is in life ; at every dig only hui^ying his muzzle deeper 

 into ids opponent. " We quite agreed with him that a dog that did 

 tliat must be good indeed ; and we are perfectly satisfied that he 

 did not in the least exaggerate the indomitable pluck and never- 

 say-die tenacity of his tiny favourite. Two very good things 

 remain to be said in praise of our Highland fox-hunters' dogs. 

 They are never known to bite, and very rarely even to bark at 

 human beings ; and no fox-hunter's dog was ever known to be 

 afi'eoted ^with hydrophobia or canine madness. The exemption 

 from canine madness may, perhaps, be largely due to their 

 open air and natural mode of life, but it is difficult to understand 

 why they should be so entirely free from any propensity to bite or 

 otherwise annoy a human being, a vice common enough to dogs 

 of unexceptionable character and breeding otherwise, and from 

 which even the highly intelligent and much-lauded collie is by 



