106 DAYS OF DEER-STALKING. 



you I must now come to a stop, for all your attention will 

 be required in picking your road ; we have some very un- 

 comfortable ground to pass over. Had the moon kept clear 

 we might have made our way tolerably well, but that black 

 cloud has completely mystified us." 



In truth, it had become so impenetrably dark, that it 

 was impossible to distinguish the nature of the moor, 

 whether the foot was to alight upon the top of the moss 

 hag, or to sink down in the bog ; the burns themselves, 

 which ran silently, were not discernible, no light from the 

 sky being reflected on them. Each man struggled on as 

 best he might ; but the hill-men supported Lightfoot with 

 that kind care and hospitable attention, which is the charac- 

 teristic of every Highlander, from the highest to the lowest. 



" Ye mun gang cannily, sir, an dinna pit yer fut doon 

 rashly, for the bog is deep, it'll tak ye up to the weem ; 

 mony's the beast that has been lost in it. It was na lang 

 sin' Sandy Macgregor, him that drives the cattle, lost his 

 bonny cow, the milk had been takken afore by some in- 

 veesable hand, or may be by the evil eye, and then the 

 beast was gone a-the-gither. For twa days he lookit ower 

 a' the green grazings, where aiblins she micht have strayed ; 

 aweel, on the third day, he saw the gathering of the ravens, 

 and the waving of the wings, and the wheeling aboot in the 

 air, and heard the hoarse croakings ; and when he won to 

 the place, there was his bonny beast stuck fast, stark deid, 

 a wee bit to the wast of whar yer honor stands the noo ; and 

 the foul birds had pickit out his een, and ate his flesh. 

 They say that if Sandy had found the cow when the hide 

 was fresh, and had takken it aff, and wrapped himsel in it, 

 mony strange things would he have heard that nicht on the 

 moor. Wha can say what thae birds may be, gin they were 

 in their ain proper shape." 



" All this is excellent comfort, my good friend ; but why 

 did you bring me here, to devote me to your bog kelpies, do 

 you wish to see another beastie lost, and food for the raven?" 



" God bless you, sir, haud up, and dinna be afeard, ye 

 shall no come to harm ; tak my hand, and joost feel the 

 moss a wee bit afore ye trust till it. Sandy, man, gang forrit 

 a step or twa." 



