Ask a Policeman. 161 



and a half distant. When they had travelled what 

 seemed more than a mile, they asked again, and were 

 told that they were fully two miles away from their 

 destination, and at their next inquiry the distance 

 was again increased. However, at last they reached 

 the place, took notes of the character of the deposit, 

 and for future examination put up some of the clay in 

 bags which held about ten or twelve pounds' weight of 

 it in the damp state. These the tacksman of the 

 works obligingly offered to send into Peterhead to 

 their lodgings. He also directed them to a clay 

 deposit in the neighbourhood of a small village called 

 Annochie, saying that it was but a very short distance 

 off, down a narrow pathway. 



If distance in the former case had an elastic 

 character, much more did they find it possessed of it 

 in this. The impression was perhaps intensified by 

 fatigue and a craving for food. 



On reaching the village they asked a policeman 

 whether there were any hotel or other place of refresh- 

 ment there. He said that there was no such place in 

 the village, and to Mrs. Robertson's modest suggestion, 

 that a cup of coffee would be better than nothing, he 

 could only reply by proposing the uncertain possibili- 

 ties of a grocer's shop, within sight of which he civilly 

 led them. Two carters were at the counter. The 

 wayfarers asked an attendant if they could have a cup 

 of coffee, as they were very tired and could not get one 

 anywhere else in the village. The young man very 

 readily went to inquire whether they could be obliged, 

 and their hopes rose high as they sat and waited his 

 return. But he soon came back, and said that what 



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