THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
252 
ner, having been blown off it by the force of the wind, and 
by this time we had hopes of reaching within a short space 
of the ewes, which were still a mile and a half distant. 
Our master had taken the lead; I was next him, and soon 
began to suspect, from the depth of the snow, that he was 
leading us quite wrong, but as we always trusted impli- 
citly to him that was foremost for the time, I said nothing 
for a good while, until satisfied that we were going in a 
direction very nearly right opposite to that we intended. 
I then tried to expostulate with him, but he did not seem 
to understand what I said, and, on getting a glimpse of his 
countenance, I perceived that it was quite altered. Not 
to alarm the others, nor even himself, I said I was becom- 
ing terribly fatigued, and proposed that we should lean on 
the snow and take each a mouthful of whiskey, (for I had 
brought a small bottle in my pocket for fear of the worst,) 
and a bite of bread and cheese. This was unanimously 
agreed to, and I noted that he swallowed the spirits rather 
eagerly, a thing not usual with him, and when he tried to 
eat, it was long before he could swallow any thing. I was 
convinced that he would fail altogether, but, as it would 
have been easier to have got him to the shepherd’s house 
before than home again, I made no proposal for him tore- 
turn. On the contrary, I said if they would trust them- 
selves entirely to me, I would engage to lead them to the 
ewes without going a foot out of the way — the other two 
agreed to it, and acknowledged that they knew not where 
they were, hut he never opened his mouth, nor did he 
speak a word for two hours thereafter. It had only been 
a temporary exhaustion, however; for after that he re- 
covered, and wrought till night as well as any of us, though 
he never could recollect a single circumstance that occur- 
red during that part of our way, nor a word that was said, 
nor of having got any refreshment whatever. 
At half an hour after ten, we reached the flock, and just 
in time to save them; but before that, both Borthwick and 
the ploughman had lost their hats, notwithstanding all their 
precautions; and to impede us still farther, I went inad- 
vertently over a precipice, and going down head foremost, 
between the scaur and the snow, found it impossible to ex- 
tricate myself; for the more I struggled, I went the deeper. 
For all our troubles, I heard Borthwick above convulsed 
with laughter; he thought he had got the affair of the dung- 
hill paid back. By holding by one another, and letting 
down a plaid to me, they hauled me up, but I was terribly 
incommoded by snow that had got inside my clothes. 
The ewes were standing in a close body; one half of 
them were covered over with snow to the depth of ten 
feet, the rest were jammed against a brae. We knew not 
what to do for spades to dig them out; but, to our agree- 
able astonishment, when those before were removed, they 
had been so close pent together as to be all touching one 
another, and they walked out from below the snow after 
their neighbours in a body. If the snow-wreath had not 
broke, and crumbled down upon a few that were hind- 
most, we should have got them all out without putting a 
hand to them. This was effecting a good deal more than 
I or any of the party expected a few hours before; there 
were 100 ewes in another place near by, but of these we 
could only get out a very few, and lost all hopes of saving 
the rest. 
It was now wearing towards mid-day, and there were 
occasionally short intervals in which we could see about 
us for perhaps a score of yards; but we got only one mo- 
mentary glance of the hills around us all that day. I 
grew quite impatient to be at my own charge, and leaving 
the rest, I went away to them by myself, that is, I went 
to the division that was left far out on the hills, while our 
master and the ploughman volunteered to rescue those that 
were down on the lower ground. I found mine in mise- 
rable circumstances, hut making all possible exertion, I got 
out about one half of them, which I left in a place of safety, 
and made towards home, for it was beginning to grow 
dark, and the storm was again raging, without any miti- 
gation, in all its darkness and deformity. I was not the 
least afraid of losing my way, for I knew all the declivi- 
ties of the hills so well, that I could have come home with 
my eyes bound up, and, indeed, long ere I got home, they 
were of no use to me. I was terrified for the water, 
(Douglas Burn,) for in the morning it was flooded and 
gorged up with snow in a dreadful manner, and I judged 
that it would be quite impassable. At length I came to 
a place where I thought the water should be, and fell a 
boring and groping for it with my long staff. No, I 
could find no water, and began to dread, that for all my 
accuracy I had gone wrong. I was greatly astonished, 
and, standing still to consider, I looked up toward heaven, 
I shall not say for what cause, and to my utter amaze- 
ment thought I beheld trees over my head flourishing 
abroad over the whole sky. I never had seen such an op- 
tical delusion before; it was so like enchantment, that I 
knew not what to think, but. dreaded that some extraor- 
dinai-y thing was coming over me, and that I was de- 
prived of my right senses. I remember I thought the 
storm was a great judgment sent on us for our sins, and 
that this strange phantasy was connected with it, an illu- 
sion effected by evil spirits. I stood a good while in this 
painful trance; at length, on making a bold exertion to 
escape from the fairy vision, I came all at once in contact 
with the old tower. Never in my life did I experience 
such a relief; I was not only all at once freed from the 
fairies, but from the dangers of the gorged river. I had 
