200 DAYS OF DEEB-STALKING. 



shieling, deserted, as they imagined, as buildings in such 

 remote places usually are in the winter. What, then, was 

 their surprise, when, upon approaching the door, it was at 

 once opened, even without their knocking. A woman pre- 

 sented herself, of a wild and haggard aspect ; told them she 

 had been expecting them, and that their supper and beds 

 were ready. Even so they found it the pot was boiling, 

 and bannocks and oat-cake were placed upon the table, and 

 also two plates, for the expected guests. There was some- 

 thing so extraordinary about this old woman, that it 

 operated as a sort of fascination, and the men's eyes were 

 continually turned upon her. She had large features, long 

 lank hair, and small grey eyes, deeply sunk, and conveying 

 a striking expression of vice and cunning ; she halted on 

 one leg, and chaunted a wild song, in an unknown language, 

 while she was pouring out the kail. 



Tired and exhausted as the men were, the whole thing 

 appeared to their superstitious imaginations so much like 

 witchcraft, that, although half famished, they could scarcely 

 bring themselves -to eat. Fear came upon them, when she 

 waved her long sinewy arms, and darkly hinted that she 

 had power over the winds and the storm, muttering at 

 intervals some unintelligible sentences ; then at once holding 

 up a rope, with three knots tied in it : " If," quoth she, " I 

 lowse the first, there shall blaw a fair wind, such as the deer 

 stalker may wish ; if I lowse the second, a stronger blast 

 shall sweep o'er the hills ; and if I lowse the third, sic a 

 storm will brack out, as neither man or beast can thole ; and 

 the blast .shall yowl down the corries and the glens, and the 

 pines shall fa' crashin' into the torrents, and this bare arm 

 shall guide the course o' the storm, as I sit on my throne of 

 Cairn-Gower, on the tap of Ben-y-Gloe. Weel did ye ken 

 my po'er the day, when the wind was cauld and deidly, 

 and all was dimmed in snaw, and ye see that ye was 

 expectit here, and ye hae brought nae venison ; but if ye 

 mean to thrive, ye maun place a fat hart, or a yeld hind in 

 the braes of Atholl, by Eraser's cairn, at midnight, the first 

 Monday in every month, while the season lasts, the laird's 

 ghaist will no meddle wi' it. If ye neglect this my bidding, 

 foul will befall ye, and the fate of Walter of Rhuairm shall 



