CHAP. Xxx. ] FOX-HUNTING. 235 
stopped, and quietly sitting down, appeared to listen for the dogs ; 
and, not hearing their cry come nearer, he came quietly and lei- 
surely along, till he reached the track where we had crossed the 
corrie; when, cautiously stopping with his nose to the ground, 
he changed his careless manner of running to a quick canter, 
halting now and then, and snuffing the air, to find out where the 
enemy was concealed. Just then, too, the hounds appeared tu 
have turned to our direction, and another fox came in view, en- 
tering the corrie to my right hand at a great pace, and making 
directly towards me, though still at a mile’s distance. The first 
fox had approached within sixty or seventy yards of the fox- 
hunter, when I saw a small stream of smoke issue from the rocks, 
and the fox staggered a little, and then I heard the report of the 
gun. The foxes both rushed down the hill again, away from us, 
one evidently wounded ; when, the echo of the shot sounding in 
every direction, first on one side of the corrie, then on another, 
and then apparently on every side at once, fairly puzzled the 
poor animals. ‘The wounded fox turned back again, and ran 
straight towards where the fox-hunter was, while the other came 
towards me. He was within shot, and I was only waiting till he 
got to an open bit of ground, over which I saw he must pass, 
when the hounds appeared in full cry. at the mouth of the corrie 
by which he had entered. Reynard stopped to look; and 
stretching up his head and neck to do so, gave me a fair shot at 
about sixty yards off. The next moment he was stretched dead, 
with my ball through him; while the other, quite bewildered, 
ran almost between the legs of my fellow-chasseur, and then 
turned back towards the dogs; who, meeting him full in 
the face, wounded as he was, soon caught and slew him. In a 
short time the whole of our troops, dogs, shepherds, and all were 
collected ; and great were the rejoicings over the fallen foe. I 
must say, that though our game was ignoble, the novelty of the 
proceedings, and the wildness and magnificence of the scenery, 
had kept me both amused and interested. I forget the name of 
the corrie: it was some unpronounceable Gaelic word, signifying 
the “ Coirie of the Echo.” 
