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He told his man further, that for certain reasons, which he should afterwards know, it was ab solutely necessary that he should make no secret of their [proposed expedition; that he should therefore take every opportunity of mentioning it that night, by way of a piece of news, in Loch-1 andhu's kitchen; and that, if at any time he should be questioned on the subject, he should, without reserve, tell the whole of what his master had communicated to him about his plans of future recreation.

Matters having been thus settled, Amherst hastened to the house, from which he was by this time but a little way distant. The hour of his arrival was a very late one, yet he found that his host had only come in a few minutes before him."1 He endeavoured to meet Lochandhu with as much frankness of manner as he could possibly assume, though he felt that to do so was no easy task, and one that went very much against his conscience. He gave him a long history of his day's ramble; and, after mentioning the circumstance of his having seen the eagle, and the disappointment he had met with in regard to it, he told him that he had been led astray in the dark, and that he had

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lost his way in the woods, but he took especial care to describe his wanderings, as he had done to O'Gollochar, in a manner very wide of the reality, Lochandhu listened to the story with his usual po liteness, and to the account of his sport, with much apparent interest, and Amherst, to mislead him the more, talked, with feigned rapture, of the pleasure he had lately received from such

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"You know," said he, "that much as I was gratified with the grand spectacle you were kind enough to indulge me with, when you contrived to show me so many head of deer, by having them driven into one spot, that I yet held the sport of that day to be a kind of butchery; and you may recollect that I then resolved to dedicate a week, before leaving the Highlands, to the pursuit of those noble animals, attended by no one but my servant, and entirely depending upon my own exertions and my own ingenuity. As time now wears away, and I cannot much longer intrude upon your hospitaTM | lity, I have resolved to put my intentions in prac tice immediately, lest, by postponing them too long, and leaving them, till the last, I may eventually be obliged to quit the country without

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fulfilling them at all. I therefore mean to go tomorrow evening to the Bothy in Glenmore I am already acquainted with, whence I can easily reach such parts of the mountains as you have told me are frequented by the deer, and I anticipate much pleasure from being thus left to an entire dependance upon my own skill in waging war upon them. But this is not my only object. For I mean to revel in the sublime scenery to be met with about the base of the Cairngorum, and to endeavour to carry off with my pencil a few of the more remarkable features, already so powerfully impressed on my mind."

As this was nothing more than the following up of an intention Amherst had previously more than once expressed, Lochandhu manifested no surprise at his resolution. On the contrary, he applauded his design, and gave his guest a long list of general instructions, which might have formed a very good pocket manual, or vade-mecum on the sublime and arduous art of deer-stalking.

"I suppose, Mr Oakenwold," said he archly, after all this" I suppose by the time a week has passed away, I may collect all the horses in the neighbourhood to bring home the spoil. At

all events, I shall send a messenger to you in a day or two, to learn how you get on.-But I advise you to take some provisions with you, just to set up your larder with at first, as I would by no means recommend that you should entirely trust to the execution of your gun;-though, by the bye, you will find enough of the lesser kinds of game, to ensure such a marksman as you are against starvation."

After this conversation, Amherst retired to rest; and notwithstanding the harassing events to which he had been that night exposed, the fatigued state of both his body and mind was too great to permit him long to ruminate upon them; and he slept very soundly till morning, when he arose well refreshed, and ready to undergo new adventures.

When O'Gollochar came to him, he gathered from him some interesting particulars. Having gone, as usual, at an early hour to the stable, he had had a visit from Forbes the miller. This cunning villain appeared to have assailed the Irishman with questions so round-about, yet apparently so simple and natural in themselves, that Amherst had good reason, secretly to congratulate

himself, on the precautions he had taken, in veiling his real intentions even from his servant, by giving him the same story, both as to his last night's adventures, and the proposed expedition he was about to undertake, that he had told Lochandhu; for he plainly saw, that if he had acted differently, not all the slender stock of art poor Cornelius was master of, would have been sufficient to throw dust in the eyes of this sly and subtile scout. As it was, every thing fell with perfect nature from the mouth of the unsuspecting Irishman; and Amherst was convinced that the villains would become the dupes of his manœuvre.

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