MURDOCH CAMPBELL'S REVENGE 151 



it, for, recollect, he's not a very tough customer, or one that 

 is used to face rough weather. So I vote we walk down to 

 the fishing cottages below to send off a boat as if by pure 

 chance, while we go home and pack his gun and cartridges 

 off to Laggan." * 



Loth, indeed, was my host to consent, but I got my way 

 eventually, and descending the hill to a few small cottages, 

 we arrived only to find women folk at home. On explaining 

 our errand, two of them with much laughter volunteered to 

 fetch off our victim ; so advising them to bargain for the 

 payment of a good ransom, we shoved their boat to sea, 

 and they pulled to the rescue quite as strongly and as well 

 as any two men would have done. We then retired to the 

 hill-top, from which vantage, with only our caps above the sky- 

 line, we eventually witnessed through our glasses the landing 

 of our exciseman, and a more miserable-looking creature could 

 not be imagined. The story soon got wind, and as the 

 exciseman's excess of zeal had made him very unpopular in 

 the small sea town in which he was stationed, he was quickly 

 dubbed " Laird of Innis Coinean," while incessant was the 

 chaff directed at him about this adventure and the " whiskey " 

 with the other luxuries that helped him through his sojourn. 

 At length he could stand it no longer, so making application 

 to headquarters to be moved, our zealous friend was appointed 

 to another district, where it is to be hoped that, profiting 

 by our lesson, he learnt to temper zeal with discretion. 



