312 WITH NATURE AND A CAMERA. 



her as being altogether too funny for resistance. 

 A great hulking Highland lad, with a red head 

 and a supercilious affectation of wisdom on his 

 countenance, had a deal to say, mostly in Gaelic, 

 upon the matter ; and just to see how far he 

 would allow his assumption of knowledge to get 

 the upper hand of his native caution, I offered 

 to wager him a shilling that I would milk the 

 cow dry inside of ten minutes. Although the stake 

 was small, his discretion saved him. The old 

 woman to whom the cow belonged readily gave 

 her assent, and borrowing a bucket from the chief 

 steward, I sat down to my task. Some of my 

 fellow-passengers looked on in amused curiosity, 

 no doubt expecting to see me sent sprawling 

 along the cargo deck by the resentful cow, whilst 

 others of the superior order appeared shocked, 

 but I didn't mind as long as there was some 

 fun and good new milk to be got out of the 

 transaction, besides relieving a suffering dumb 

 animal. When I started to milk, the cow turned 

 her head and looked at me in great amazement. 

 She sniffed the scent upon my clothes, and rolled 

 up the whites of her eyes in such a wicked way 

 as made it quite plain to me that under different 

 conditions she would not, without effective protest, 

 have suffered the indignity of being milked by a 

 man who carried not the aroma of peat smoke 

 about him. I milked the flood of thin milk away 

 into the bucket, and, calling for a drinking glass, 

 drew the rich remainder for a Highland railway 

 manager, a missionary, my brother, and myself. 

 This piece of practical sagacity, proving that I 

 knew a cow's richest milk is always given last, 

 raised the red-headed Highlander's opinion of me 

 considerably. 



