In the hall, too, with its big open
fireplace, were a couple of big solemn bookcases, full of serious works,
such as some educated minister might have left, and, coming down dressed
for dinner before the others, I dipped into the shelves. Then--something
must long have been vaguely simmering in my brain, for I pounced on the
book as soon as I saw it--I came upon Elwes’s “Folklore of the North
West Highlands,” and looked out “Hare” in the index. Then I read:

“Nor is it only witches that are believed to have the power of changing
themselves into animals.... Men and women on whom no suspicion of the
sort lies are thought to be able to do this, and to don the bodies of
certain animals, notably hares.... Such, according to local
superstition, are easily distinguishable by their size and colour, which
approaches jet black.”

I was up and out early next morning, prey to the vivid desire that
attacks many folk in new places--namely, to look on the fresh country
and the new horizons--and, on going out, certainly the surprise was
great. For I had imagined an utterly lonely and solitary habitation;
instead, scarce half a mile away, down the steep brae-side at the top of
which stood our commodious farm-house, ran a typically Scotch village
street, the hamlet no doubt of Achnaleish. So steep was this hill-side
that the village was really remote; if it was half a mile away in
crow-flying measurement, it must have been a couple of hundred yards
below us. But its existence was the odd thing to me: there were some
four dozen houses, at the least, while we had not seen half that number
since leaving Lairg. A mile away, perhaps, lay the shining shield of the
western sea; to the other side, away from the village, I had no
difficulty in recognising the river and the loch. The house, in fact,
was set on a hog’s back; from all sides it must needs be climbed to. But, as is the custom of the Scots, no house, however small, should be
without its due brightness of flowers, and the walls of this were purple
with clematis and orange with tropæolum. It all looked very placid and
serene and home-like. I continued my tour of exploration, and came back rather late for
breakfast. A slight check in the day’s arrangements had occurred, for
the head keeper, Maclaren, had not come up, and the second, Sandie Ross,
reported that the reason for this had been the sudden death of his
mother the evening before. She was not known to be ill, but just as she
was going to bed she had thrown up her arms, screamed suddenly as if
with fright, and was found to be dead. Sandie, who repeated this news to
me after breakfast, was just a slow, polite Scotchman, rather shy,
rather awkward. Just as he finished--we were standing about outside the
back-door--there came up from the stables the smart, very
English-looking Sefton. In one hand he carried the black hare. He touched his hat to me as he went in. “Just to show it to Mr Armytage, sir,” he said. “She’s as black as a
boot.”

He turned into the door, but not before Sandie Ross had seen what he
carried, and the slow, polite Scotchman was instantly turned into some
furtive, frightened-looking man. “And where might it be that you found that, sir?” he asked. Now, the black-hare superstition had already begun to intrigue me. “Why does that interest you?” I asked. The slow Scotch look was resumed with an effort. “It’ll no interest me,” he said. “I just asked. There are unco many
black hares in Achnaleish.”

Then his curiosity got the better of him. “She’d have been nigh to where the road passes by and on to Achnaleish?”
he asked. “The hare? Yes, we found her on the road there.”

Sandie turned away. “She aye sat there,” he said. There were a number of little plantations climbing up the steep
hill-side from Achnaleish to the moor above, and we had a pleasant slack
sort of morning shooting there, walking through and round them with a
nondescript tribe of beaters, among whom the serious Buxton figured. We
had fair enough sport, but of the hares which Jim had seen in such
profusion none that morning came to the gun, till at last, just before
lunch, there came out of the apex of one of these plantations, some
thirty yards from where Jim was standing, a very large, dark-coloured
hare. For one moment I saw him hesitate--for he holds the correct view
about long or doubtful shots at hares--then he put up his gun to fire. Sandie, who had walked round outside, after giving the beaters their
instructions, was at this moment close to him, and with incredible
quickness rushed upon him and with his stick struck up the barrels of
the gun before he could fire. “Black hare!” he cried. “Ye’d shoot a black hare? There’s no shooting of
hares at all in Achnaleish, and mark that.”

Never have I seen so sudden and extraordinary a change in a man’s face:
it was as if he had just prevented some blackguard of the street from
murdering his wife. “An’ the sickness about an’ all,” he added indignantly. “When the puir
folk escape from their peching fevered bodies an hour or two, to the
caller muirs.”

Then he seemed to recover himself. “I ask your pardon, sir,” he said to Jim. “I was upset with ane thing
an’ anither, an’ the black hare ye found deid last night--eh, I’m
blatherin’ again. But there’s no a hare shot on Achnaleish, that’s
sure.”

Jim was still looking in mere speechless astonishment at Sandie when I
came up. And, though shooting is dear to me, so too is folk-lore. “But we’ve taken the shooting of Achnaleish, Sandie,” I said. “There was
nothing there about not shooting hares.”

Sandie suddenly boiled up again for a minute. “An’ mebbe there was nothing there about shooting the bairns and the
weemen!” he cried. I looked round, and saw that by now the beaters had all come through the
wood: of them Buxton and Jim’s valet, who was also among them, stood
apart: all the rest were standing round us two with gleaming eyes and
open mouths, hanging on the debate, and forced, so I imagined, from
their imperfect knowledge of English to attend closely in order to catch
the drift of what went on. Every now and then a murmur of Gaelic passed
between them, and this somehow I found peculiarly disconcerting. “But what have the hares to do with the children or women of
Achnaleish?” I asked. There was no reply to this beyond the reiterated sentence: “There’s na
shooting of hares in Achnaleish whatever,” and then Sandie turned to
Jim. “That’s the end of the bit wood, sir,” he said. “We’ve been a’ roound.”

Certainly the beat had been very satisfactory. A roe had fallen to Jim
(one ought also to have fallen to me, but remained, if not standing, at
any rate running away). We had a dozen of black-game, four pigeons, six
brace of grouse (these were, of course, but outliers, as we had not gone
on to the moor proper at all), some thirty rabbits, and four couple of
woodcock.