dead stand is made, and a single grouse gets up quite close to us. It is my shot. Steadily I keep my eye on it as it recedes to a proper distance, then deliberately bring my gun well up to the sight, fire, and the bird tumbles lifeless on the ground. "There are more birds here," remarked Green, "for this pack ought to contain nine." It turned out, however, to have been an off-set, which had strayed from the others, so we made a cast back to the exact spot whence we had been diverted. This proved to be judicious; for in a few minutes we found the remaining eight birds, which, led by the clamorous old cock, rose and left two of their number fluttering on the heather. "Mark!" shouts the keeper to the shepherd, who was on an eminence at some distance. The latter stoops down, shades his eyes with his hands, and rising after the lapse of some seconds, informs us that he has lodged them exactly, though full half a mile off. Upon the peaks of the Van, which had hitherto gleamed brightly with the morning sun, we observed about this time some huge dun clouds to settle. These soon deepened into black; and to our vexation, the change from fair to foul was most rapid. The sky became entirely overcast, the clouds with their flying skirts dropped lower and yet lower on the mountains, until at length we found ourselves enveloped in so dense a mist that we could scarcely see half gun-shot distance. We were hesitating what to do, which Green perceiving, came to us and said, "Gentlemen, if I may be allowed to speak, I'd advise you to go down to Jenkins', the shepherd's, which is the nearest house, for shelter. It is hopeless looking for birds on this exposed, smoky bank, and if it wasn't, you couldn't see to shoot." Acting on this advice, we made signal for our horses, and scarcely were we mounted ere it commenced raining tremendously. It was none of your genteel, town-bred showers, which give a smart sprinkling, cool the air, lay the dust, and are gone; but a veritable wild mountain-storm. Down it came, lashing the black hillside, and crushing itself into very smoke with fury. I have never known such rain before nor since. We were not merely drenched, but it ran off us in streams. Not before its greatest violence had been expended we reach a roofed penfold, where we left our drooping dogs and horses to proceed some distance down a ravine on foot. Passing a small rivulet which flowed through its hollow, we at length arrived at the humble but welcome cottage. It was seated in a natural recess, well protected from the winds, and, from what I could see, consisted of but two rooms: nevertheless here, in this remote spot, was every appliance of rustic comfort, and, as it would seem, no lack of the means to boot. The shepherd, whom from the first I had considered a noble, athletic specimen of the genus "Homo," had a wife worthy of such a husband. They were, indeed, a handsome young couple. Their breakfast was waiting on the table, and though homely, all was clean and neat. I tasted the hot oatmeal cake, and newly-made butter (for the shepherd kept a cow) and relished them much; the tea also, I can assert, was far from despicable. Having divested myself as far as was convenient of my dripping clothes, which the keeper endeavoured to dry before a well-replenished peat fire, I followed the example of my friend, who sought solace under disappointment in the generous sedative of cigars. Reflecting upon the serene beauty of that morning, and the gloomy change that had occurred, I could not shut out from my mind certain truthful lines from a fine sonnet by the immortal bard; they run thus: "Full many a glorious morning have I seen Flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye, With ugly rack on his celestial face, We had been weather-bound about two hours, and I was standing at the cottage door, looking out upon the drifting rack, and speculating in no very enviable mood on the probability of the rain continuing through the day, when lo! a flash of lightning seen, followed instantly by a thunder-crash so loud as to be almost deafening; and the reverberations of which, as they leapt from hill to hill, made the very ground tremble. yet." "I am glad of this," said I, turning to my companion, as soon as the noise had abated, "we shall have it fine And so in about half an hour it proved. The rain ceased, the sun shone out as brilliantly and more fiercely than before, causing the whole face of nature to smile as it were with joy. Hastily I put on my halfdried shooting-jacket,-not the pleasantest possible thing, I assure you, -and while the keeper was getting the guns in order (for they had suffered from the wet), climbed to a neighbouring bank, which I saw would command a view of the plains below. The atmospheric effects produced by the storm in passing off were really magnificent. It held its course towards Talgarth and the Hay, passing over Llangorse, whose surface, no longer like sheeted silver, which it whilom was, became black as that of the fabled Acheron. From the great elevation of the point where I stood, I saw it floating onwards foreshortened and almost on a level with me. The huge clouds were convolved and restless. To me it seemed a battle of stormspirits; ever they reared their giant heads menacingly aloft, then mingling in the fray, darted missive lightnings, and still grappled prostrate, their long black hair streaming to the earth, beating down corn, and crushing remorselessly the ripened hopes of the distracted husband man. My curiosity in this particular satisfied, I returned to the cottage, and with high spirits we once more shaped our course to the mountains. The little brook which on our way down we passed dry-shod, had become in this brief while a raging, turbid torrent; so rapid is the rise of these streams. To pass it where we did before, was impracticable; so the shepherd led us to a spot higher up, where, by means of a rock projecting midway above its surface, we crossed, and taking horse quickly regained the shooting-ground. The appearance of the mountains after such heavy rain was extremely beautiful. The whortle-bushes, pink-blossomed heather, and long silky tufts of cotton-grass, were loaded with water, which refracted in a thousand ways the yet sloping sunbeams, and displayed every variety of prismatic colour. There was a moist fresh odour in the air, at the same time very refreshing. It had been determined that we should first beat for the pack already moved, and then proceed to a part of the manor termed, par excellence, "the moors." The keeper, who had just uncoupled two of the best dogs (by the way, unlike Nature, they had manifestly not improved by the swilling) exclaimed, as he turned to me, in a seeming ecstacy of pride: ،، There, sir, please to observe the style in which those dogs beat. No ground-raking, sir; they carry their heads well up; and what can be more beautiful than the way they quarter their ground to keep the advantage of the wind." 66 They certainly hunt admirably," said I. While we were yet talking of the dogs, being close upon some lichenbearded rocks, round whose base some straggling fern contrived to vegetate, I saw a hare quietly stealing off; another moment, and she lay stretched in death. Hares, as I learnt, at this season are scarce among the mountains; but when the shelter afforded by the wheat and standing grain of the enclosures fails them, are more abundant. This and another were all we killed throughout the day. On the sheltered side of the hill, some distance below where the shepherd had marked them, we found the birds. They rose wild, and skimming over the heather, soon passed out of sight. As a general rule, grouse do not lie so well as partridge; unlike them, too, their rise is seldom simultaneous, but by twos and threes, here and there, at various distances, so that frequently when the firstmoved birds spring too far off, the shooter by not being over-hasty, gets rises nearer, and within shot, They are also much given to run, and often weary the sportsman's patience by the astonishing lengths they sometimes lead him. When this occurs, the old cock, if he is left, is apt to mount on the top of the heather (taking care, however, to be at a respectable distance), where he gives a loud premonitory cackle; upon which the whole pack rise wild, and leave you to find whatever consolation your philosophy may afford, on having been led, at the highest pitch of expectation, some half mile or more, through heather and peat moss, to be disappointed in the end. I do not think the grouse by any means a difficult bird to shoot. Compared with that of the partridge, his flight is by no means rapid; certainly not, at first, when it is rolling, and somewhat unsteady; but it becomes swifter and steadier, as the bird gets ، strong on the wing,", at which time he requires a smart blow to disable him. We now entered upon "the moors," which were immense tracts of boggy land, intersected in every direction by deep natural dykes; these from their frequency, made our progress slow, and very laborious. The birds too, which we found in tolerable abundance, were, owing to the rain, so very tickle, that we could not get within anything like a reasonable distance. At noon we lunched, and indulged in an hour's rest. By this time, -so rapid was evaporation under the mid-day sun-the hills had become as dry as could be wished: we therefore recommenced beating. Near the brink of one of those shallow tarns, which, with their ruddycoloured water, abound on moors, our dogs hit upon a pack, which suffered us to walk right into its centre. Fine sport, as the birds suc cessively rose around us, we had with them. "They lie well this time," observed my friend. "Yes," rejoined I; "but not so well as I have known them lie." "How so?" inquired he. "We almost trod upon them." "True; but I once found grouse sit so close as to be picked up by the hand. The circumstances were these: I was shooting on the Black Mountains in company with the Rev. W. H— and his brother. Our dogs came to a point on a pack we had previously moved and thinned. The birds ran for some time; at length a brace rose by my side, I fired right and left, and killed both. It was my first successful double-shot, so I have reason to remember it. When I was loading, the younger H Hsaid in a subdued tone of voice, ‘There is a bird at my feet.' I looked, and there, on a patch of bare ground I saw one squat, with its head thrust into a stunted tuft of heather. H pulled off his hat, and coolly covered the bird with it; the latter, instead of proving weakly or wounded, as might be supposed, was as fine a poult as those just killed, which were of the average size. Another bird would have been taken in the same way had I not purposely flushed it with my foot." The keeper, on being questioned, informed us that his experience had furnished many similar instances; some of which he took the opportunity of communicating. It The grouse last moved were scattered in all directions; and with two other packs afforded us much amusement. We flushed a few snipes, which breed annually on these mountains; and my companion killed, purely out of curiosity, a specimen of the Ring Ouzel. rose from the heath, and was the first I had ever seen. I have, however, since observed them, in considerable numbers, on the hills near Merthyr. Weary, and suffering greatly from thirst, we joyfully hailed the little nook, where on a carpet of greenest turf, hard by a small, gurgling, shaded stream, our cloth was spread for dinner. How luxurious was it to spread one's recumbent limbs at full length on the soft bank! What a glorious sight that glass of cool porter, with its dark, tempting body, and head of rich creamy foam! how nectareous its flavour as in hot haste we gulped it down! Delicious, too, were the fowls and tongue; very savoury the more substantial beefsteak-pie. A few glasses of cold punch followed the meal; then came brandy-and-water and cigars-which latter brought into exercise the keeper's ingenuity to furnish us with the means of lighting them-the requisites for that purpose having been forgotten. At length my friend, quitting his seat, said, "Come, let us be moving; the birds are now on the feed, and we'll beat the flats above Derwent-y-groes, which lie on our way home." "Perhaps," interposed the keeper, "you will step a few yards with me; I have something I wish to point out to you." Having led us into a hollow on the mountain, without the slightest previous intimation of the nature of his purpose, he said, "Here, on the very spot where I now stand, two winters back, I found a hill-shepherd dead in the snow.* After the natural expressions of surprise and sympathy had passed, I gathered quickly the following brief details of the poor man's death. The deceased was a married man, having (if I recollect rightly) a small family. News had reached him that his father, who lived on the other side of Brecon, was dangerously ill; so he set out to visit him, intending to return the following day. Unfortunately at starting he had driven his dog back, and directed his wife to shut him up; otherwise, as the instinct of animals in cases of like difficulty, is often superior to the boasted faculties of man, this melancholy event might not have happened. To his surprise he met his father in the town, where he had come for medical advice; and finding the latter's illness to be by no means alarming, he determined to go back the same day. Instead, however, of returning by the regular road, he preferred crossing the mountains (which shortened the journey by some miles), and as he was familiar with them from childhood, would no doubt have accomplished it safely, had not a stormy night overtaken him, and the accustomed landmarks been disguised or obliterated by the snow; owing to which circumstance, after long and agonising wanderings, he perished. I had frequently heard that a comatose state supervenes upon excessive cold, and was anxious to learn as far as possible the appearance and position of the body when found. "How was the poor man lying?" inquired I. "Just as though he was asleep, sir," was the answer. "His head lay where I now place my foot, the right arm bent and resting on his brow, the left by his side; the one leg a little drawn up, the other in the usual posture. His features were much the same as they used to be-for I knew him well-excepting that they were colourless, and stiff, and cold. I brushed away the snow which lay on his lips and eyes unthawed, and though in this there was nothing to be wondered at more than the fact of his death, you cannot think how it shocked me, it seemed so out of place, and horridly unnatural." 66 Yes, Green," said I," in addition to your first simple conviction of his death, it forced upon you direct material evidence that animal warmth and the quickening spirit had for ever fled-a needless testimony, and therefore the more unwelcome." Hastily quitting this place, we devoted an hour longer to the sport, and then left the hills. The reflection of the evening star danced mirthfully on the bosom of the Usk, as we recrossed it on our return. A refreshing cup of tea, followed by music, educed from the harp by skilful fingers, agreeably closed the evening. How refreshing and grateful to the soul is the memory of such days as these, when exercise and health went hand in hand together, and the appetite for enjoyment was keen and long continued! The writer does not pretend to give the keeper's precise words: but assuredly the circumstances then related are, as nearly as memory serves, faithfully adhered to. This event must have occurred in the winter of 1834 or 1835. |