198 TAKEN FOR AN EXCISEMAN. CHAP. xiv. 



moor, mire, and pool. I went in a retrograde line up 

 nearly to the carle's house before I found a spot shallow 

 enough to wade through, which I did. 



" With many musings on the desperate deceit of the 

 human heart, I had some very hard work in getting 

 through a very bad moor, utterly unable to account for 

 the trick played upon me. At last I thought I had hit 

 it. ' He took me,' said I, ' for an exciseman I ' 



" With thankfulness I struck the Thurso river a little 

 above Acharynie. It is accounted fifteen miles from 

 Acharynie to Thurso, and, having a level road, the 

 journey might be said to be at an end. 



" The granitic debris lies in great thickness over all 

 the country there. I saw deep sections of it by the 

 river-side far above Acharynie. The chasm or valley in 

 which the river winds is of considerable depth, exhibit- 

 ing many fine sections of granitic debris. 



" A little past the old church I saw two fine sections 

 of blue boulder clay. But they were not for my exami- 

 nation at present. The old carle had done for me. My 

 time was gone. I had settled in my mind a visit both 

 to Dallmore and Cattack. But I must push on. I was 

 obliged to rest content with seeing them afar off. 



" In this, my last grand boulder clay expedition of 

 the year, I have accomplished a feat in pursuit of 

 rotten shells, which perhaps not many men would have 

 willingly undertaken. I have walked more than fifty 

 miles without once sitting down. Then next morning 

 at five o'clock, I rose to my daily work as if nothing 

 unusual had happened. 



