HIS BOTANICAL STUDIES IN OLD AGE. 319 



June and July, he promised to obtain a specimen for his 

 visitor, if at all possible. Accordingly next day, the old 

 man, then in his eighty-fourth year, set out on this arduous 

 journey of twelve or more miles, not counting the climbing 

 of a thousand feet of hill keen in heart as ever, but now 

 sadly slow on foot as he felt at every step to obtain the 

 desired flower. The day did not promise well ; but, un- 

 daunted by even worse prospects than that, he walked 

 across the bridge of Alford and up the old familiar road to 

 Tullynessle. He called on a friend, Andrew Mitchell, who 

 lived at Gallowford, at the foot of Manabattock, where he 

 rested for a time and received some refreshment, remarking 

 that he had found himself " some slow for a while, but he 

 would need to brush up," for " hope sprang eternal " in the 

 old man's breast. 



When he got well up the hill, a dreadful storm of 

 thunder, lightning and heavy rain descended upon him 

 and speedily drenched him to the skin. Still he held on, 

 searching over all the spots where he had found it before. 

 But all in vain : the shy favourite was nowhere to be seen, 

 and he had reluctantly and with a heavy heart to retrace 

 his steps homewards, defeated a rare sensation with John 

 in such explorations and he felt the disappointment to 

 the very core. 



Yet, with all the strenuous eagerness of youth in an 

 aged body, he could not thus lose the day, and recalling 

 that another rare plant used to grow on the south side of 

 the hill, he determined to go in search of it. The midnight 

 shades were now descending amidst the pouring rain, but 

 it was midsummer and darkness would be short. So he 

 climbed the eastern shoulder of the hill to the source of the 



