Last Night on the Moors. 317 



extreme care taken of property in this country, I note 

 that heavy tarpaulins were obtained, and it was nicely 

 covered for the night. What a monster it seemed stand- 

 ing out in the darkness ! 



After dinner we received packages of the Dunferm- 

 line papers containing the full account of the demonstra- 

 tion there and of the speeches. It goes without saying 

 that there was great anxiety to read the account of that 

 extraordinary ovation. Those who had made speeches 

 and said they were not very sure what, were seen to re- 

 tire to quiet corners and bury themselves in their copies. 

 Ah, gentlemen, it is of no use ! Read your orations 

 twenty times over, you are just as far as ever from being 

 able to gauge your wonderful performances ; besides the 

 speech made is nothing compared to any of half a dozen 

 you have since made to yourself on the same subject. 

 Ah ! the Dunfermline people should have heard these. 

 So sorry! One can tell all about the speeches of his 

 colleagues, however, and we made each other happy by 

 very liberal laudations, while we each felt once more the 

 generous rounds of applause with which we had been 

 greeted. 



After mailing copies of the newspapers to numerous 

 friends, there came a serious cloud over all. This was 

 to be our last night on the moors ; the end of our way- 

 ward life had come. One more merry start at the horn's 

 call, and to-morrow's setting sun would see the end of 

 our happy dream. Arcadia would be no more ; the 



