MURDOCH CAMPBELL'S REVENGE 



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learnt in his school-days, with much trouble, from Xenophon 

 that "Marathon looked on the sea and the hills looked on Mara- 

 thon " ; and he openly avowed that that passage together with 

 sundry swishings were all the recollections of the distinguished 

 Athenian warrior and sportsman that now dwelt in his memory. 



From the cottage windows could be seen a wide expanse 

 of sea dotted with islands of various sizes, a picturesque com- 

 bination of land and water which supplied us with scenes of 

 beauty and realms of sport ; sometimes it was the seal or the 

 otter that claimed our attention, at others the fish, while once 

 we even joined in a whale hunt which ended in nothing. We 

 tried for an early salmon in the river hard by, and many a 

 tramp was made, rod in hand, across the moor to distant hill 

 lochs, while for a wonder the weather had served us so well 

 that for a whole week no rain had marred our enjoyment. 



Then one morning a shepherd brought a note from the 

 factor of the adjoining property to ask us if we would like to go 

 and thin down the rabbits on Innis Coinean — which is Gaelic 

 for Rabbit Isle — which lay with several others some five miles 

 off Marathon Bay, and was one of the most exposed of the 

 group. The letter concluded by saying, "Please don't spare the 

 bunnies; they were not properly shot down in the winter, so if 

 you do not care to go, I must send over and trap them, or there 

 won't be a blade of grass left on the island." As we decided 

 to go, Murdoch turned to me and said, " Should you mind if I 

 asked the exciseman from Laggan to come with us ? He's not 

 a bad sort of fellow, a capital shot, and handy too in a boat." 



Of course I assented, so a letter was at once despatched to 

 the official in question, asking him to meet us at the Marathon 

 boat-house the day but one following. At the appointed hour 

 our friend duly arrived at the trysting-place ; our three selves, 

 Murdoch's head man, and two under-keepers with their ferrets, 

 made up the party. The day was fine, with the sea so smooth 

 that we soon pulled over the five miles of water between us 

 and the sandy beach of Innis Coinean, which, unlike all the 

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