HIGHLAND HOSriTALITY. 159 



herd's hut, at which we knocked, and knocked, and knocked 

 again ; but the only answer we met for long was the vio- 

 lent barking of a band of collies in the interior. At last 

 a feeble and querulous grumbling was heard, as if from 

 under a heap of clothes. We could make nothing of it 

 for a considerable time, and so continued our knocking at 

 door and windows. We finally made out that the muffled 

 murmurings were intended to warn us off — that everybody 

 should be in bed by that time of night — and that we must 

 make the best of our way back to Cashel Dim. In vain 

 we entreated, and expostulated, and explained ; in vain did 

 Mr John Scobie menace them with ducal wrath, alternately 

 in Gaelic and 'the English tongue ;' still more in vain did 

 the gentler Barry 'thee' and 'thou' through the key-hole 

 or the broken lozen. 'Thou didst willingly promise me a 

 night's lodging when I passed thy dwelling in the day- 

 time. Surely thou wouldst not refuse us the cover of thy 

 roof, and the use of thy hay. Thou oughtest not to have 

 promised, if thou intendedst not to fulfil. Thou hast de- 

 ceived us, and now we know not what to do.' I was cer- 

 tain from the first, from the tone of her voice, that she 

 would not yield, and advised the party to be off, though I 

 could not exactly advise them in what direction to turn 

 their steps. "We were about to go back to Cashel Dim, 

 when Mr Scobie proposed we should venture a few miles 

 more up the valley, as he was ' pretty sure' there was a hut 



