A STALK ON SCARBA 255 



was no cause for regret when at last, the mails re-sorted, orders 

 were given for a start. 



A fellow passenger during the next stage took an aggressively 

 affectionate fancy for me whiskey again, no doubt. He told 

 me all his family secrets, at least so it seemed from the little 

 I was able to understand, but after a shilling had changed hands 

 for more whiskey wherewith to drink my health, my friend 

 got out to carry his good intentions into effect without the least 

 loss of time. 



Soon after dark we arrived at our destination for the night, 

 and east wind rain and cold were soon forgotten before a cheery 

 fire. How bare and deserted everything looked now, how 

 different from my last visit, when all was bright in beautiful 

 autumn weather ! Thanks to a fair breeze on a luckily fine 

 morning after a stormy night, our sailing-boat soon touched 

 the shore of Scarba ; I made myself at home in the lodge, once 

 again enjoying the beautiful view from there of sea and main- 

 land, of Jura and the many other islands and rocks scattered 

 about. 



Scarba now was in its winter garb, and a complete study in 

 browns, pale greens, and yellows, of every conceivable shade. 

 There was the pale yellowish brown of withered grass among 

 the heather, the coarser kind in lovely crimson shading which 

 grew in swampy ground, the rich brown of dead bracken ; grey 

 brown larches contrasting with the purple twigs of leafless 

 birches. The heather, though green itself, was half hidden 

 under its withered pinky-brown blossom ; the grass, where 

 still green, ran through every shade of colouring, as did the 

 rushes also; the firs, in their dark green, alone were unchanged. 

 Indeed, so did the deeper browns predominate nearly every- 

 where, that during the usual dark cloudy weather the general 

 colouring of the ground so closely matched that of the darker 

 hinds those which we were after that to see them clearly 

 when standing still among the bracken was often very difficult ; 

 when not watching the stalker their white sterns alone gave 

 them away. The dark-brown background equally protects the 

 young, who in their first year are dark like the old ones, and 

 only get their lighter coats the following spring. Particularly 

 noticeable was this one morning, when a very bright light 

 illumined the horizon, while black clouds covered the rest of 



