CH. XXV. SHEPHERD'S COTTAGE. 93 



out the colley dogs, which had pursued him, by 

 taking to the water and apparently swimming the 

 loch. If he had managed to cross he would be on 

 my side of it, and I might by chance fall in with 

 him on my return home the next day in some of 

 the burns and glens through which I should have 

 to walk. I did not blame Malcolm much, knowing 

 the mischief done by deer to the shepherds' little 

 crops ; besides which the ground where he had shot 

 this stag was not preserved or used as a forest by 

 the owner. 



We had a weary walk, though enlivened by 

 Malcolm's quaint remarks. Without his company 

 and guidance I saw plainly that I should have had 

 some difficulty in finding my way through the 

 rough ground over which we had to pass. The 

 night, too, had come on quite dark before we 

 reached the shealing. 



On entering I was much struck by the group 

 which we saw by the light of several splinters of 

 bog-fir laid on a stone. Malcolm's old father, a 

 man whose years numbered at least fourscore, was 

 reading a chapter of the Bible in Gaelic to the rest 

 of his family, which consisted of his wife, a woman 

 of nearly equal age to himself, but hale, neat, and 

 vigorous, and of a sister and brother of Malcolm's : 

 the former a peculiarly pretty, though somewhat 



