36 TOUR IN SUTHERLANDSHIRE. 



midst of my rambles in Sutherlandshire in May, I did not 

 find myself again in that country till the 9th of June. 

 Travelling (that is, the mere net of passing along the road) 

 takes up very little of your time nowadays. You go from 

 London to Edinburgh in about thirteen hours, and a good 

 steamer takes the traveller from Granton Pier to Invergordon 

 in Eoss-shire quickly and comfortably enough ; that is, I left 

 Granton at 6 A.M. on the 6th, and landed at Invergordon 

 early in the evening of the 7th, accompanied only by a Skye 

 terrier, who from his earliest childhood, or rather puppyhood, 

 has always managed to stick closely to me. In wild-fowl 

 shooting, when no dog is required save a quiet retriever, 

 Fred (so was he christened by some of my children) is always 

 allowed to accompany me, as from his quiet discretion he is 

 never in the way. In roe-shooting also he is allowed to 

 remain at my feet while 1 am waiting in a pass. At the 

 same time, if permitted to hunt, no kind of animal, running 

 or flying, quadruped or biped, comes amiss to him, and he is 

 equally at home in any ground, rock, or loch. There is a 

 kind of quiet, discretionary courage that some of these rough 

 terriers have which is very amusing nothing seems to put 

 them out, and Fred is as much at home in a crowded railway 

 station or London street as he is in a furze-cover. He rather 

 annoys me sometimes when travelling, for as soon as he has 

 seen me safely housed in an hotel, he is very apt to wander 

 off in search of adventures and acquaintances of his own 

 through the town, wherever it is ; and although it may be a 

 new place to him, he invariably finds his way back to rny 

 room for the time being, regardless of all obstacles in the 

 form of waiters, chambermaids, &c. I used to be afraid of 

 losing him, but after some experience of his ways, I find that 

 I may safely leave him to his own devices ; for having once 

 or twice despatched ostlers and boys in all directions to 

 search for him, I perceived that he always came back alone, 

 looking rather ashamed of himself, and not venturing to 

 make himself very prominent in the room till he had 

 examined the expression of my face from under a chair or 

 sofa, for dogs are great physiognomists. Then, on seeing that 

 I am generally too pleased at his return to be angry at his 

 absence, he comes out of his place of refuge wriggling his 

 long rough body about in all sorts of coaxing but uncouth 

 attitudes, and at last putting his honest rough face in my 

 hand or on my knee, he finds that peace is declared, and he 



