J. F. Campbell Collection > Minstrelsy of the Scottish border > Volume 3

424 MiXsTJiELSY or
From the tliick copse the roe-bucks bound,
The startled red-deer scuds the plain,
For the hoarse bugle's warrior sound
Has rouzed their mountain haunts again.
Through the huge oaks of Evandale,
Whose limbs a thousand years have worn.
What sullen roar comes down the gale,
And drowns the hunter's pealing horn .'*
Mightiest of all the beasts of chace,
That roam in woody Caledon,
Crashing the forest in his race.
The Mountain Bull comes thundering on.
Fierce, on the hunters' quiver'd band,
He rolls his eyes of swarthy glow.
Spurns, with black hoof and horn, the sand,
And tosses high his mane of snow.
Aim'd well, the Chieftain's lance has flown ;
Struggling in blood the savage lies ;
His roar is sunk in hollow groan —
Sound, merry huntsmen ! sound \hc jyrysc !'
* PiJ/sc — The note blown at the death of the game.