A RAID ON SUTHERLAND. 465 



he thought, would measure thirty yards. The bull-whales are 

 often dangerous, by following boats and upsetting them. In 

 dark weather, especially about dusk, they might rise under a 

 boat without seeing it ; of course, a capsize must take place. 

 " The Abbot " has seen them jump, like a salmon, fifteen yards 

 clear of the sea, and come down with such a splash that the 

 motion would swamp a boat. He added gravely, " I would not 

 like to be near them in a craft of forty tons." 



At Tobermory a most pompous piper boarded the Clans- 

 man, but some queer groans and quavers made it somewhat 

 suspicious that the pipes were "in the wind's eye." How- 

 ever, a rival started up from Oban, in the shape of a blind lad 

 and his fiddle. I daresay his pale face and sightless orbs 

 assisted, but he soon silenced the blustering piper. Duncan 

 tied up his chanter, and, creeping to the top of the paddle- 

 box, looked down in haughty disdain on the degenerate 

 audience. The blind lad, happily ignorant of the savage eye 

 glaring down on his performance, waxed his fiddlestick, scraped 

 away at his masterpieces, and pocketed his pence in quiet 

 content. Next morning, when we stepped ashore at Greenock, 

 we found that for once the homely fiddle had fairly routed the 

 great war-bagpipe, the latter having taken advantage of the 

 night to cover a retreat. 



2 G 



