90 ^^MBLES OF A TtOtMINIS 



of Assynt ; Canisp and Suilven were darkening on the 

 sky. At length the shore grew dim and shadowy, 

 hardly seen; then darkness settled down on sea and 

 land. 



Not a man of all the company had been into Loch 

 Inver, and it was with anxious eyes that we watched 

 for light or beacon that might guide our way. In 

 vain we sought to pierce the blackness of the night. 

 There was nothing but the faint outline of the shore, 

 the low sound of the surf along the strand, the nicker of 

 luminous waves round the feet of unseen islets. But 

 at last the faint glimmer of a distant light was seen 

 for a moment from the cross-trees ; then another and 

 another shone like welcome signals from the shore. 

 And: then in silence and in darkness we drifted to our 

 moorings. 



The morning broke wild and wet. Clouds hung dark 

 above the mountains of Loch Inver. 



" There droops along the dreary hills a mournful fringe 

 of rain." 



It was a day of cold, and wet, and misery. There 

 was a leak in the skylight, there was a cataract down 

 the steps of the companion. But there was " a wind 

 that followed fast." The Summer Islands, wrapped in 

 cloud, were passed unseen. Through cold and clinging 

 mists we crossed the waters of Loch Broom. 



The clouds were breaking as we reached the shore 

 at Gairloch. Sunlight smiled on the soft setting of 

 green woodlands, on their crown of bare grey crags, 



