I A Gossip on a Sutherland Hill-side 257 



rifles ; see how the mist is lifting, and how pleasantly 

 the north-wester begins to breathe on our faces.' 



Gently and gradually our tiny horizon increases 

 in diameter, and light puffs of wind come up from a 

 quarter opposite to that from which the rain has 

 been pattering so unmercifully upon us, sharp as 

 needles, cold as ice ; the white fog begins to boil 

 and seethe, and at last is caught up bodily and 

 carried away in the arms of the strong fresh breeze. 

 Stronger and stronger comes the wind, rolling the 

 mist up into great balls, and driving them against 

 the hill-side with a force that scatters them into 

 nothingness. Swell after swell, and peak after peak, 

 stand out bold and clear, the mist hanging round to 

 leeward of them for a moment, cowering under the 

 shelter, till the conqueror brushes off the last trace 

 of the conquered, and the great central basin of 

 Sutherland lies clear at our feet. 



' And now for deer — what are you spying down 

 there for, Donald ? we must have given the wind to 

 everything as we came up.' 



* 'Deed, sir, I'm looking for Jeemie and the 

 powney ; he canna get the staig on his back by 

 himsel', and I canna make out the creature.' 



' What are the sheep galloping for, down there ? 

 — there ! they wheel round in a mass and face 

 towards the burn. Ay, there is the white powney, 

 and Jeemie, and Clebric, the brute, rugging his arm 

 off to get at the blue hares. They will not be up 

 here this half-hour, so we may as well spread our- 



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