304 NETHER LOCHABER. 



with difficulty, and betook itself to a rock ledge at hand to preen 

 and dry itself, with no other consolation in its disappointment, 

 probahly, than a sotto voce merlin-wise muttering of the adage, 

 " Better luck next time." The sandpiper, it is needless to say, was 

 soon a mile away, winging its terrified flight to the opposite Appia 

 shore. We were glad that the sandpiper had escaped, that the 

 merlin was disappointed. It is always pleasant to see an evil-doer 

 baulked in the accomplishment of his evil intentions. And yet we 

 don't know either. We have called the merlin an evil-doer : are 

 we entitled so to call him ? Was he not as much entitled, could 

 he have secured it, to have that Tringa for Ms evening meal, as we 

 the dehcious red rock cod that in an hour or two afterwards we 

 enjoyed so heartily to our own supper 1 Let the reader think it 

 over, and answer the question to himself at his leisure. ■ 



