170 A HUNDEED YEARS 



a bottle of whisky, smuggled of course, with plenty of 

 camomile flowers, bitter orange-peel, and juniper berries 

 in it — ' bitters ' we called it — and of this he had a wee 

 glass always before we sat down to breakfast, as a fine 

 stomachic. 



" It is impossible to imagine him mixed up with any 

 jolly, rackety ploy, but I can see him now plainly standing 

 on the edge of a drain for hours, directing every spadeful 

 of earth throwm out or stone put in — for tiles were long 

 after his day. He always held in his hand his double 

 Joe Manton with flint-locks, in case of some vermin 

 showing itself or a hare asking for a sudden shot; and 

 as he was never in a hurry to fire and never fired till 

 the animal was covered by the gun-button, the distance 

 at which his gun killed seemed incredulous. At other 

 times he would be busy directing the gardener about 

 some plant, or would sit at his desk going over his rental 

 ledgers, or listening to some complaint from a tenant. 

 About Martinmas-time he would ride ofi to Gairloch from 

 Conon on his pony to collect rents, with saddle-bags 

 behind him, but no valet, groom, factor, or clerk to help, 

 and before Mackintosh's waterproof days, with no better 

 waterproof cloak than a camlet. What a blessing it 

 would be to landlord and tenant were all lairds now 

 as well acquainted with their tenants and their circum- 

 stances as he was ! He was the only son of his mother, 

 and, I may add, the only child, and was left an orphan 

 when a mere infant. His Uncle Mackenzie of Millbank, 

 near Dingwall, had charge of him, and he seems to have 

 grown up anyhow, till he fell into the hands of a tutor 

 — ^the only one he ever had — the Rev. Mr. Robertson 



