124 FORAYS AMONG SALMON AND DEER. 



rain oozing through the roof; and on looking about I 

 perceived several little pools, forming from the same 

 cause, in different parts of the room. In one corner a 

 series of drops were quietly following each other down 

 the barrel of a rifle to the improvement of the powder. 

 In another place they were collecting inside one of my 

 boots. Here they were diluting the cream on the 

 shelf; there they were reducing the lump-sugar to a 

 pulp. Indeed almost the only dry place of any size 

 was that under shelter of the table. 



This was, in sooth, a cheering prospect ! and as I 

 sprang out of bed, and anxiously opened the door, the 

 sight which greeted my eyes was not calculated to 

 console for the distress within. On all sides the rain 

 was coming straight down, and seemed likely to con- 

 tinue ; not a break was there in the clouds, to fan the 

 faintest hope into life. Down the face of the big cliff, 

 Creag-na-sturm, when between times I could see so 

 far, what had been yesterday but a tiny jet of spray, 

 stretching like a white thread from top to bottom, was 

 now one broad sheet of foam, pouring furiously over its 

 surface, and taking the whole distance in three or four 

 tremendous leaps ; while countless minor streams 

 spread and crossed in every direction, like a veil of fine 

 lace covering the features of a dark beauty. Though 

 fully a mile distant, their combined voices seemed to 

 reach my ear above the sound of the rain. In other 

 quarters too I could distinguish similar changes ; burns 

 had grown into rivers, and the river itself was swollen 

 in proportion. While I was marking all this, in mood 

 disconsolate, the shepherd emerged from his cottage 

 with the remark, sympathetic, but not consolatory, 

 " 'Deed, sir, but the day's no that promising." " I am 

 afraid, Eorie, it promises only disappointment ; " was 

 the only rejoinder I could make. 



