210 JOURNEY TO BORGAFIORD. 
I was about to take my departure from the neigh¬ 
bourhood. It is therefore as a single instance of 
avarice and mistrust, that I mention the owner of 
Skykeaster, who, on coming down to my tent 
with a few birchen twigs that were not sufficient 
to boil the kettle, and about a pint of milk, de¬ 
manded two marks and eight skillings # . This 
I paid him immediately, letting him know at the 
same time that, had his conduct been different, 
he would have been better recompensed; at which 
he was so much vexed that he offered to re¬ 
turn the money, and furnish me unconditionally 
with as much more of the milk and fuel as I 
wanted. A strong northerly wind, which rushed 
down the gullies of the mountain, made us regret 
the not having fixed upon a better sheltered spot 
for our night’s rest, and I therefore forded the 
river, in hopes of finding a more convenient 
one nearer to the foot of Skoul-a-fiel; but the 
weariness of our horses, and the difficulty that 
would have attended their conveying the luggage 
over the excessively rocky bed of the river, in¬ 
duced us to prefer accommodating ourselves as 
well as we could to our present station, trusting 
that, by fixing the tent-pins deeper in the ground, 
and placing our luggage, saddles, &c., round the 
bottom of the tent, we should be able, at least in 
* About one shilling and eightpence of our money. 
