SOME EARLY EXPERIENCES 37 



was running up the banks towards some boats 

 where, by a merciful Providence, two men were 

 engaged in gathering mussels. I clung to the 

 stake in desperation for what seemed ages, but 

 may not have been more than a quarter of an hour, 

 and was on the point of dropping off when I heard 

 voices. A moment later I was dragged into a 

 boat and my life was saved. 



Some one had evidently seen us from the shore, 

 because two days later a garbled version of the 

 incident appeared in the Dundee Evening Telegraph, 

 and my poor mother, having read it, was nearly 

 demented. It was very rare for men to gather mus- 

 sels in winter, and the owners of the boat told me 

 they had not been on the river for three weeks, so 

 it was little short of a miracle that they were there 

 that day, so I may say it was a very narrow escape. 



Twice Hugh Smith and I were swamped in 

 Campbelltown Bay, Moray Firth. Only good luck 

 too saved us once in Edderton Bay, Dornoch 

 Firth. We were driven to sea, and escaped by 

 coming over a shallow bank about four feet deep, 

 on to which we descended and held the punt by 

 main force until the squall abated and we could 

 again regain the coast. Our clothes were frozen 

 stiff upon us, and we had to walk three miles to 

 find a cottage where we could undress and " thaw " 

 out. 



Most of the Scottish firths are dangerous, owing 

 to heavy tides and sudden squalls, and a man who 

 hunts duck there must be careful, but that is the 

 kind of advice no young fellow of spirit will ever 

 take. 



One frosty morning in 1892 I saw from the ram- 



