LOCH AWE 59 



light, and out of another corner came a current of 

 blood to meet it. Then he slowly rose, still harping, 

 and backed his way to the door, and fled into the 

 hills from these cruel airy shapes of false desire. 



' And do the people actually believe all that ? ' 



' Ay, do they ! ' 



That is the boatman's version of Scott's theme 

 in ' Glenfinlas.' Witches played a great part in his 

 narratives. 



In the boatman's country there is a plain, and 

 on the plain is a knoll, about twice the height of a 

 one-storeyed cottage, and pointed ' like a sugar-loaf 

 The old people remember, or have heard, that this 

 mound was not there when they were young. It 

 s\\'elled up suddenly out of the grave of a witch 

 who was buried there. 



The witch was a great enemy of a shepherd. 

 Every morning she would put on the shape of a 

 hare, and run before his dogs, and lead them away 

 from the sheep. He knew it was right to shoot at 

 her with a crooked sixpence, and he hit her on the 

 hind leg, and the dogs were after her, and chased 

 the hare into the old woman's cottage. The shep- 



