in their hunter's geer, they now issued forth towards the scene of action.

The Corry-na-gavr was a dark rugged hollow, at the upper part of a narrow glen, about six or seven miles distant from the castle. It was a sort of reservoir for the waters of a great extent of hill, which, collecting from the various channels on its rocky sides, discharged themselves by a narrow chasm into the glen below. Into this corry it was the hunters' object to have the deer driven; and through the opening at its lower extremity, as well as by some still more remote clefts among the precipitous walls above, the animals usually sought to escape.

Having entered the lower glen, the sportsmen divided into several parties, in order to occupy their respective stations on either side the corry. In the course of these arrangements, whether by chance or by design, it so happened that a station was assigned to young Gleneira on the opposite side of the glen (and consequently of the stream) to that by which the ladies on their little ponies proceeded to their positions; and, unwilling though he was to lose sight of his mistress upon an expedition certainly involving some degree of hazard, he could not, in courtesy, refuse to occupy his post, nor declare the true reason that would have led him to remain with young Campbell, and the ladies of his party.

At length all reached their stations, and as the morning advanced, distant shouts might be heard, indicating the approach of the driving parties; and the sharp

eyes of the experienced sportsmen could descry antlers crowning the further heights. As these became more obvious and more numerous, the excitement increased; the animals themselves were sometimes seen relieved against the sky for a moment-1 then rushing down the steep sides of the corry, to seek the shelter of its dark bosom. But shelter was not there to be found; for soon did the forms of men appear where those of deer had just been seen; and the shouts and the halloos and the uproar became more close and continuous, as the circle narrowed and closed in around.

And now did the eager sportsmen prepare for the coming rush, and with straining eyes and in-held breath, and hands upon the locks of their long deerguns, sit, silent, each, and still as the grey stones which sheltered them from the view of the beset and bewildered animals. Driven by the hubbub behind, on they came, making towards their customary passes; but scarce had they reached the deadly ambush, when a flash and a loud report rung from behind a rock, and the foremost tumbled headlong in the struggle of death. And now began the carnage; for, repulsed in one quarter, they brought up - stood still for a moment — then dashed for another; and shot succeeded shot, until one might have fancied it the rattle of a real skirmish.

At length, driven from all their usual paths, a number of the distracted deer made a rush in another more difficult and quite unexpected quarter, pressing right up a precipitous cleft, in utter desperation. It was

close to this point, upon a little heathy height, commanding a view of the corry, that some of the ladies had been posted, both as a good station to see the sport, and to be out of all reach of hazard either from deer or ball. The spirited little pony on which Ellen Campbell was seated, excited by the noise and bustle, and still more by the scattering fire, had already become so restless as to alarm the ladies; and even his fair rider, although a good and courageous horsewoman, might have been induced to dismount, had any one been at hand to hold the beast. But this not being the case, she remained seated, soothing the little creature, until suddenly the deer burst out close beside her. Restraint was at an end :- bounding under the combined influence of spirit and terror, away dashed Ruary-grad down the steep brae face, rocky and rugged as it was, making straight for a goat track that bordered the precipice. All her companions shrieked at the fearful sight, and Ellen herself, though she clung with instinctive firmness to the seat, believed that her end was come. But there was one more vigilant, more interested than them all-who did not permit his horror to deprive him of his judgment or activity. Although separated from his mistress, the eyes of young Gleneira had never ceased to turn towards the point where she stood; even during the highest excitement of the sport, his attention was directed to her rather than to the business of the day. He had observed the unexpected rush of the deer, and, alarmed for the consequences, was already rapidly approaching

the spot where the ladies stood, when he saw the pony take its desperate flight. We have mentioned that the stream lay between them, and it was this obstacle, rather than the inconsiderable distance which intervened, that seemed to forbid the aid he sought to give : but the heart of a bold Highlander, and a young ardent lover, is not easily daunted. The stream, bursting

from the corry over a fall of considerable height, ran boiling in a dark and tortuous chasm, which it had worn in the hard granite, chafing and foaming among the fragments. In some places the rock seemed riven asunder, leaving scarcely room for the water to run through, in others opening out into basins, containing pools of great depth and size. The stag-hound is scarce more rapid than was the course of the young man as he bounded with instinctive precision towards a point where the heathery banks approached each other so closely that at a little distance they seemed to meet. The huge chasm which really divided them, and the black restless water that boiled far below, might have arrested the foot of the most undaunted. But Gleneira had neither fears nor eyes for any thing but his mistress, who, borne by the impetuous animal, was within a few paces of the brink of the chasm - where to plunge was to die horribly. With a bound that might have vied in vigour and agility with one of the animals they were chacing, the young man flung himself across. Gigantic as the effort was, the space was too greathe fell short of the bank-but his hands grasped the branch of a stunted birch that grew from it, while his