108 STUDIES OF NATURE 



grace combined with hearty enjoyment which 

 would have put to shame much of the insipid 

 posturing which often passes for dancing in 

 politer circles. 



The dance was, of course, the Scottish reel. 

 It seemed to have no end, and as I watched it 

 going on and on with ever increasing demon- 

 strativeness, it was as much as I could do to 

 keep myself from dashing into the vortex. I 

 compromised the matter, however, by humming 

 to myself certain well-known hexameters in 

 * The Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich,' which imi- 

 tate admirably the steps of the reel : 



Lo ! I see piping and dancing ! and whom in the midst of 



the battle 



Cantering loudly along there, or, look you with arms uplifted, 

 Whistling, and snapping his fingers, and seizing his gay 



smiling Janet, 

 Whom ? whom else but the Piper ? the wary precognisant 



Piper ; 

 So with the music possessing him, swaying him, goeth he, 



look you, 

 Swinging and flinging, and stamping and tramping, and 



grasping and clasping 

 Whom but gay Janet ? 



