NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAIN COTTAGE. 113 



presently the three, which we had so lately disturbed, 

 were seen winding their way up to them, having crossed 

 the valley below ; and the whole six, shortly joining 

 company, went off together. 



Thus terminated the series of this day's disappoint- 

 ments. The shades of evening were coming on apace ; 

 the ground was too rugged to be either safe or 

 pleasant for .a night march ; and as we were still 

 distant some seven miles from the cottage, no time 

 was to be lost. Glad then were we, after nearly two 

 hours of hard climbing, toiling, and running, to hear 

 our welcome from the cheerful housewife, to divest 

 ourselves of our wet toggery, and to seat ourselves 

 before a large peat fire, blazing on the hearth, with 

 walls three feet thick to shut out the wind, and a well- 

 loaded board wherefrom to console the inner man. 



After doing justice to the cold grouse, venison cutlet, 

 porridge, and cream, as they only can whose limbs 

 have been braced, whose spirits have been exhilarated, 

 and whose appetites have been sharpened by mountain 

 air and mountain exercise, we turned our feet to the 

 hearth; and there, over a glass of fine old mountain 

 dew, theorised over the events of the day ; discovering 

 with singular acuteness, now that it was too late to 

 remedy them, the point where each blunder had been 

 committed, and the exact cause of each failure ; 

 forgetting forsooth, in our self-complacency, as too 

 many other wiseacres had done before us, that it is a 

 far easier matter to criticise than to originate ; that the 

 veriest blockhead may see where another has erred, but, 

 set him to act himself, and it is ten to one he will not 

 mend the matter. At an early hour we threw ourselves 

 on our couch, hoping to rise in the morning with more 

 propitious weather. But it was in vain, for some 



