142 STUDIES OF NATURE 



have had that grand deep purple on the stormy 

 sea. 



It would have been better if we had then 

 gone straight home. The wild look of the South 

 Glen, however, tempted us ; and, in order to 

 look into it, we climbed over the Mid-Sannox 

 ridge. It was an awful sight a deep cauldron 

 of boiling mist : around it we could just see 

 the grotesque heads of the witch-like mountains 

 looking down upon the ' hell-broth ; ' and over 

 it the ragged clouds flew like harpies. That was 

 worth going to see. But then, suddenly, the 

 rain swept down once more : and, after hiding 

 for half an hour behind a rock, the dark came 

 down also, and we had to hurry to the bottom 

 with much stumbling and drenching drenching 

 from below as well as from above. A little 

 further, and a little later, would have resulted 

 in an enforced encampment for the night. 



