41 Cbrtstopber IRortb" 183 



Of Wilson's eccentricities and the strange adventures 

 he sometimes met with on his sporting excursions 

 Mr. Alexander Dingvvall gives an amusing instance : 



" Mr. Wilson came to me (then living at Millbank, 

 near Dingvvall) in such peculiar circumstances as leads 

 me to think he would have made some memoranda 

 about it. He had been fishing in the Dee, and by 

 some accident came to a fair at Tomintoul, where 

 he saw a poor man much oppressed and ill-used by 

 another, who was considered the bully of the country 

 and whose name, I think he said, was Grant. Circum- 

 stances led to Mr. Wilson putting off his coat, and 

 giving this fellow a thrashing, but on picking up the 

 coat he found it rifled of his pocket-book containing 

 all his money but a very few shillings ! In this state 

 he left for Carrb ridge, where he passed the night 

 without more than enough of refreshment. In the 

 morning he left for Inverness, and calling at the Post 

 Office he found many letters to his address ; but not 

 having money to pay the postage, the person in charge 

 declined trusting him ! He then crossed Kessock 

 Ferry with only a few pence, and arrived at Dingwall 

 about midday, where I happened to be at the time, 

 and was quite overjoyed at seeing him. He was 

 dressed in white duck trowsers covered with mud, and 

 his white hat entirely so with fishing gear. 



In our rambles, which included some curious in- 

 cidents, and which occupied several days, he fished 

 wherever a loch or stream presented itself. We avoided 

 roads entirely, and lived with the shepherds." 



Such stories as these might, to a certain extent, 



