EVENING IN THE MOUNTAIN GLEN. 107 



looked like one stream of burning lava, while the light 

 and shade, everywhere thrown out in bold relief, pro- 

 duced a very striking effect. The flies, which were 

 floating sleepily in small nebula over the surface of the 

 water, were occasionally roused into quicker motion by 

 the lazy flap of a salmon's tail, as he engulphed two or 

 three of them together. Anon the water-ousel shot out 

 from his perch under the bank, and scudding down the 

 stream, sought his meal in the shallows. A slight 

 whizzing noise overhead told of the woodcock taking 

 his recreation in the cool of the evening ; or his note, 

 something like the coo of the dove, reminded us that even 

 he forgot not his vesper hymn. 



As we were retracing our steps a light breeze sprang 

 up, a few clouds floated over the tops of the nearest 

 hill, and in a few moments a slight sprinkling of rain 

 caused us to accelerate our steps. We reached the 

 cottage,- to find a meal prepared for us by the shepherd's 

 wife, consisting of boiled venison ham, to which, as 

 well as the next course of porridge and delicious cream, 

 we did ample justice. 



During the night there was a goodly fall of rain, the 

 wind increasing almost to a hurricane ; and when we 

 rose in the morning, though the air was again clear, 

 and the sky nearly cloudless, Gillespie expressed his 

 doubts as to whether we could make anything of it to- 

 day from the violence of the wind. However, as any- 

 thing was preferable to a day spent within doors, with 

 110 resources to fly to for amusement, we decided on 

 sallying forth, and making the best of it. We took our 

 way, therefore, with the foxhunter as our guide, along 

 the bottom of a deep glen, thinking that there at 

 least, we should meet with less wind than in the more 

 exposed regions above ; but we soon found that there 



