WIND AND FIRE. 67 



It was all the same to me which way I took. 'Onward !' 

 was the word. And yet the light of day was gone and 

 the moon was up, long long before I gained a civilised 

 road. 



" The night became windy and stormy. Tremendous 

 sheets of hailstones and rain impeded my progress, so 

 much so that I thought, as Burns says, that ' the deil had 

 business on his hand,' and that he was determined to 

 finish my course with Morven. But no ! In spite of 

 hail, rain, wind, and fire (in fact I had them all), I got 

 home at three o'clock on Wednesday morning, having 

 walked, with little halt, for about twenty-four hours. I 

 went to bed, slept till seven o'clock, then rose, and went 

 to my work as usual. Sixty miles is a good walk to 

 look at a hill. Oh, those plants, those weary plants ! " 



On one of his midnight excursions Dick was taken 

 for a poacher. It may be mentioned that the rivei 

 Thurso is one of the best salmon rivers in Scotland, 

 Indeed, in early spring, there is no river that comes up to 

 it. Sir John Sinclair boasted that on one occasion 2500 

 salmon had been caught at one haul a draught that has 

 never been exceeded. The price paid by the salmon- 

 fishers is so high at present 20 per rod monthly 

 that the river is carefully watched to prevent poaching. 



One night a gentleman in charge of the river went 

 out to see that the keepers were doing their duty, and 

 also to detect the poachers if he could. He went to a 

 particular spot where there were evident traces of poach- 

 ing. The river was then in good poaching order. 



Just at the break of day, an hour or more before sun- 



