and dived. As I prepared for the shot one came up about eighty yards to my
left, exactly where I could have wished him to be, showing the whole of his head.
As he swam slowly, my bullet caught him at the back of the skull and he was
instantly killed, floating high on the surface. Hardly had the echo of the shot
died away and a fresh cartridge been inserted when the second Seal came up about
one hundred yards to my right front; he saw me as I shifted my position, but did
not appear much alarmed, and offered a similar target to the first with the same
result.<
The boat at once made all speed towards the first Seal, but as the other one
appeared to be sinking lower every moment the direction was changed, and the
occupants were just too late to seize the vanishing form. It was a warm sunny
day, so Philip at once stripped and dived two or three times after the carcase, but
without success, owing to the dense halo of blood and oil that always surrounds
a recently killed Seal. Seeing that nothing further could be done at the time, the
boatmen now rowed with all haste towards the first Seal, picking me up on the
way. As he still floated high I caught his forepaw, and with the help of two
men we got him into the boat.
‘After waiting half an hour and admiring our prize, which proved on
examination to be a three-year-old grypus weighing 14 stones 2 lbs., and 6 ft. 1 in.
in length, we again made for the spot where the second Seal had sunk. The
curtain of oil and blood had now drifted some distance from the actual spot
where the beast had sunk, and after peering about for an hour we failed to
find the carcase whose recovery had seemed almost a certainty.’
The most successful stalk at Seals I ever had was in the Sound of Harris
on Sept. 30, 1897, when staying with my friend Mr. George Henderson, who
has given me many delightful days of sport. Mr. Henderson rented during
this season the shootings of Rodel, South Harris, where there was excellent
shooting and fishing. One day he kindly placed a small yacht at my disposal,
so I went across the Sound to the Uist side, accompanied by Finlayson the
keeper and Rorie Morrison, who had been Lord Dunmore’s Seal-hunter for many
years. What Rorie did not know about the Sound was not worth knowing.
I was anxious at the time to get two or three Seals in good winter coat, and he
said that he could show me some for certain.
‘ Leaving Finlayson in the boat, Rorie took me to the summit of a high hill
from which we commanded a magnificent view of the whole Sound of Harris.
The tide was only half ebbed, but the sight of so many rocks and islands dotted
COMMON SEALS FIGHTING.