distillers who were present, the supposition that I was the English gauger, and the safe vicinity, amidst that drenching rain, of the smuggling-bothy. There is a coolness, there is a depth about the character of Mark Ickerson, which even yet I have to fathom. He now used the Erse tongue like a truncheon: and in all he said, did those heathery-looking Kernes place implicit faith; conducting us to their den with welcome, nay resuming their operations before us, in which he even went so far as to join zealously. Indeed, for my own part, I have an impression that there is considerable vivacity in the Gaelic language, and that it has a singular power of communicating social and mirthful ideas. now look back upon my enjoyment of its jests or lyric effusions with a feeling of surprise; except as indicative of an habitual courtesy, and of a certain aptness in me to catholic sympathies with all classes or races of men. I We were not going, however, to live perpetually in a mist, which bade fair to continue up there; neither was it desirable that Ickerson should become permanently an illicit distiller, speaking Gaelic only. Happily there was of the party a man, of course accidentally present, and by no means connected with systematic fraud against the excise, who could guide us in fog or rain, by day or night, to our destination; himself, it turned out, a Macdonochy, though rejoicing more in the cognomen of "Dochart." How or in what manner, along with this Dochart, we emerged gradually from the mist upon a wet green knoll of fern and juniper, fairly into the splendour of the west, striking down Glen-Samhach itself,-how we all three descended with augmented spirits, till the long expanse of the lake glittered upon our sight, and then the scattered smoke of huts grew visible, it were difficult, if it had been judicious, to relate. There is to this hour something confused about that memorable short cut altogether, more especially as to its close. Only, that some one, probably Ickerson, struck up a stave of a song, German all joined, not excepting the elderly Dochart. commerce. All at once we were close upon the schoolmaster's house, a homely enough. cottage, where Moir's head-quarters had been established; at one end of the clachan, before you reach the lake. He had made himself at home as usual; and, though surprised at our despatch, of course welcomed us gladly. A pleasant, lively young fellow, Frank Moir: former college-mate of us both, though but for a term or two, ere he turned aside to And who can enjoy the Highlands like a London man born north of Tweed; or enjoy, for that matter, a tumbler or so of genuine Highland toddy, with the true peaty flavour from up some Ben-Araidh; conversing of past days and present life, to more indigenous friends? We too relished it to the utmost. The pursuers were left behind us, unable to follow. Finally, Ickerson and I, on two boxedin beds of blanket over heather-at the end next the cowshed, with the partition not up to the rafters between us and its wheezy occupants, slept the sweetest sleep of many months. III. AN UNLOOKED-FOR CATASTROPHE, THAT first whole day of untroubled, silent, secluded safety, upon the sunlit waters of Loch-na-Diomhair, how indescribable was it! We heeded little the first day, how our sporting successes might be ensured; excepting Moir only, to whom nature is rather the pretext for fishing, than vice versa as with most intellectual workers, like us who followed his guidance. A boat, at any rate, was the first desire of all three; and a boat was at the schoolmaster's command, we put it to immediate use. "This day, O Moir," says Ickerson, in his quaint way, "let Brown indulge that idle vein of his-while we revel, rather, in the exertion so congenial Yesterday, he perhaps had enough of that. Nevertheless, let him take the oars to himself, that we may troll these as to us. what a sweep of blue loch! Yea, past the lee of the trees, yonder, what a favouring ripple of a breeze-too soon to be lost, I fear me !" The sly pretender, he had an advantage over me yet. It was not I, but he, who inclined to inert dreaming; as we floated forth on an expanse as yet distinguishable by very little from other lakes, with no features of extraordinary beauty; but solitary, bare, spreading on wider till it folded between two promontories of wild hill. And then, with the first buoyant sense of depth-of liquid force taken hold upon by the oar in a conscious hand, to be wrestled with at least for exercise-what refreshment, what exultation at your measureless might, your endless outgoings, your inexhaustible sources, O ye abundant and joyous waters! Anywhere-anywhere with ye, for Loch-Diomhair is but a name, that in itself would soon disappoint us. And Ickerson, too, cheated of his evasive resort to the rod and its lazy pleasures, is held in emulous unison with me, by the ash-stave he has not time to lay aside; till insensibly we are trying our strength together, and our power to modulate it harmoniously, while Moir's will becomes ours, as he stands erect before us, but backward-his minnow spinning astern, his eye intent, hand ready, the ends of his somewhat sumptuous neckerchief fluttering with the swift smooth motion. A sudden jerk at last, a whirr, the running reel is tremulous with his first sea-trout of the season, which shows play in good earnest, making straight for open water through yonder reeds by the point, where no line twisted by tackle-maker's hands will bear the strain. At that, no Yankee whaling-captain can shout more excitedly, or more unreasonably demand superhuman exertions, than Moir; when he required our double speed on the instant, to do all but overtake the fin-borne fugitive, tailpropelled for its dear life; that he might save the first tug upon his line as he shortened it quickly, with a subtile art! Yet we justified his expectations, ousness of Mohawks upon the chase; so that down, down, in the nearer profound beneath us, our sea-trout must sound himself perforce, then, after a sullen pause, come up exhausted, to show but a few more freaks of desperation, and, turning its yellow side to the sun, yield to the insidious pole-net at last. A solid three-pounder at the least, plump, lustrous, red-spotted; the pledge, merely, of a splendid future in Loch-Diomhair. We rejoiced over it, drank over it the first quaich of that day's mountain-dew, and were thenceforth vowed to the engrossing pursuit in which Frank Moir revelled. Little matter was it then, save for this object, how magnificent the reach of open water visible, lost in distant perspective; with here and there a soft shore of copse, rising into a hill of wood; a little island dotting the liquid space : on either side, the shadowy recesses of glens looking forth, purplemouthed; midway to one hand, the great shoulders and over-peering top of Ben-Araidh, supreme over all, beginning faintly to be reflected as the breeze failed. But there was one grim, grey, castellated old house, projected on a low point, which our friend denoted to us; the abode of the Macdonochy, who looked forth with jealous preservation-law upon the sport of strangers. Nearer to us, he showed, as we were glad to find, the more modest yet wealthier residence of that English merchant, Mr. St. Clair, who had purchased there of late his summer retreat and the St. Clairs were far more liberal of their rights, although it was said the young Macdonochy had become an intimate at their lodge, aspiring greedily to the hand of its fair heiress. Hence we turned our prow that way, and, still rowing stoutly, were fain to pass the hotter hours near shore, with oars laid by; trying for heavy pike in the sedge-fringed bay. It was in order to find a pole in the nearest fence, on which Ickerson's plaid might be spread as a sail, that he himself deliberately landed; showing, I must say, a cool heedlessness of legality, such as his recent still distillers who were present, the supposition that I was the English gauger, and the safe vicinity, amidst that drenching rain, of the smuggling-bothy. There is a coolness, there is a depth about the character of Mark Ickerson, which even yet I have to fathom. He now used the Erse tongue like a truncheon: and in all he said, did those heathery-looking Kernes place implicit faith; conducting us to their den with welcome, nay resuming their operations before us, in which he even went so far as to join zealously. Indeed, for my own part, I have an impression that there is considerable vivacity in the Gaelic language, and that it has a singular power of communicating social and mirthful ideas. now look back upon my enjoyment of its jests or lyric effusions with a feeling of surprise; except as indicative of an habitual courtesy, and of a certain aptness in me to catholic sympathies with all classes or races of men. We were not going, however, to live perpetually in a mist, which bade fair to continue up there; neither was it desirable that Ickerson should become permanently an illicit distiller, speaking Gaelic only. Happily there was of the party a man, of course accidentally present, and by no means connected with systematic fraud against the excise, who could guide us in fog or rain, by day or night, to our destination; himself, it turned out, a Macdonochy, though rejoicing more in the cognomen of "Dochart." How or in what manner, along with this Dochart, we emerged gradually from the mist upon a wet green knoll of fern and juniper, fairly into the splendour of the west, striking down Glen-Samhach itself,-how we all three descended with augmented spirits, till the long expanse of the lake glittered upon our sight, and then the scattered smoke of huts grew visible,- it were difficult, if it had been judicious, to relate. There is to this hour something confused about that memorable short cut altogether, more especially as to its close. Only, that some one, probably Ickerson, struck up a stave of a song, German all joined, not excepting the elderly Dochart. All at once we were close upon the schoolmaster's house, a homely enough cottage, where Moir's head-quarters had been established; at one end of the clachan, before you reach the lake. He had made himself at home as usual; and, though surprised at our despatch, of course welcomed us gladly. A pleasant, lively young fellow, Frank Moir: former college-mate of us both, though but for a term or two, ere he turned aside to commerce. And who can enjoy the Highlands like a London man born north of Tweed; or enjoy, for that matter, a tumbler or so of genuine Highland toddy, with the true peaty flavour from up some Ben-Araidh; conversing of past days and present life, to more indigenous friends? We too relished it to the utmost. The pursuers were left behind us, unable to follow. Finally, Ickerson and I, on two boxedin beds of blanket over heather-at the end next the cowshed, with the partition not up to the rafters between us and its wheezy occupants, slept the sweetest sleep of many months. III. AN UNLOOKED-FOR CATASTROPHE, THAT first whole day of untroubled, silent, secluded safety, upon the sunlit waters of Loch-na-Diomhair, how indescribable was it! We heeded little the first day, how our sporting successes might be ensured; excepting Moir only, to whom nature is rather the pretext for fishing, than vice versa as with most intellectual workers, like us who followed his guidance. A boat, at any rate, was the first desire of all three; and as a boat was at the schoolmaster's command, we put it to immediate use. "This day, O Moir," says Ickerson, in his quaint way, "let Brown indulge that idle vein of his-while we revel, rather, in the exertion so congenial to us. Yesterday, he perhaps had enough of that. Nevertheless, let him take the oars to himself, that we may troll these what a sweep of blue loch! Yea, past the lee of the trees, yonder, what a favouring ripple of a breeze-too soon to be lost, I fear me !" The sly pretender, he had an advantage over me yet. It was not I, but he, who inclined to inert dreaming; as we floated forth on an expanse as yet distinguishable by very little from other lakes, with no features of extraordinary beauty; but solitary, bare, spreading on wider till it folded between two promontories of wild hill. And then, with the first buoyant sense of depth-of liquid force taken hold upon by the oar in a conscious hand, to be wrestled with at least for exercise-what refreshment, what exultation at your measureless might, your endless outgoings, your inexhaustible sources, O ye abundant and joyous waters! Anywhere-anywhere with ye, for Loch-Diomhair is but a name, that in itself would soon disappoint us. And Ickerson, too, cheated of his evasive resort to the rod and its lazy pleasures, is held in emulous unison with me, by the ash-stave he has not time to lay aside; till insensibly we are trying our strength together, and our power to modulate it harmoniously, while Moir's will becomes ours, as he stands erect before us, but backward-his minnow spinning astern, his eye intent, hand ready, the ends of his somewhat sumptuous neckerchief fluttering with the swift smooth motion. A sudden jerk at last, a whirr, the running reel is tremulous with his first sea-trout of the season, which shows play in good earnest, making straight for open water through yonder reeds by the point, where no line twisted by tackle-maker's hands will bear the strain. At that, no Yankee whaling-captain can shout more excitedly, or more unreasonably demand superhuman exertions, than Moir; when he required our double speed on the instant, to do all but overtake the fin-borne fugitive, tailpropelled for its dear life; that he might save the first tug upon his line as he shortened it quickly, with a subtile art Yet we justified his expectations, ousness of Mohawks upon the chase; so that down, down, in the nearer profound beneath us, our sea-trout must sound himself perforce, then, after a sullen pause, come up exhausted, to show but a few more freaks of desperation, and, turning its yellow side to the sun, yield to the insidious pole-net at last. A solid three-pounder at the least, plump, lustrous, red-spotted; the pledge, merely, of a splendid future in Loch-Diomhair. We rejoiced over it, drank over it the first quaich of that day's mountain-dew, and were thenceforth vowed to the engrossing pursuit in which Frank Moir revelled. Little matter was it then, save for this object, how magnificent the reach of open water visible, lost in distant perspective; with here and there a soft shore of copse, rising into a hill of wood; a little island dotting the liquid space on either side, the shadowy recesses of glens looking forth, purplemouthed; midway to one hand, the great shoulders and over-peering top of Ben-Araidh, supreme over all, beginning faintly to be reflected as the breeze failed. But there was one grim, grey, castellated old house, projected on a low point, which our friend denoted to us; the abode of the Macdonochy, who looked forth with jealous preservation-law upon the sport of strangers. Nearer to us, he showed, as we were glad to find, the more modest yet wealthier residence of that English merchant, Mr. St. Clair, who had purchased there of late his summer retreat: and the St. Clairs were far more liberal of their rights, although it was said the young Macdonochy had become an intimate at their lodge, aspiring greedily to the hand of its fair heiress. : Hence we turned our prow that way, and, still rowing stoutly, were fain to pass the hotter hours near shore, with oars laid by; trying for heavy pike in the sedge-fringed bay. It was in order to find a pole in the nearest fence, on which Ickerson's plaid might be spread as a sail, that he himself deliberately landed; showing, I must say, a cool heedlessness of legality, such as his recent still He came back in his leisurely style, slowly relaxing his features to a smile, as he held up a glazed card of address, which he bore in triumph, along with the paling-slab. We had, indeed, heard voices; and now found that Ickerson had fallen into sudden altercation with a groom attended by two setters. The groom looked after him as he stepped into the boat, with the timber shouldered still; and I recognised the attendant of our two fellowpassengers across Inversneyd ferry. It was not merely that he had been awed by Ickerson's stalwart dimensions: the truth was, that Ickerson, when detected by him in a felonious act, had characteristically insisted on giving his own. card to the groom, whom he commanded to bear it to the party of sportsmen he saw at hand. Thereupon, the young English officer, already known to us both by sight, had come forward smiling; to waive further excuses, to make recognition of Ickerson, and give in his turn his titular piece of paste-board; apologizing, also, for his awkward constraint on the previous occasion. He had discovered that Ickerson and he had mutual acquaintances in town, with whom the former was, as usual, a favourite; and knowing him thus by reputation beforehand, now wished the pleasure of cultivating this opportunity, so long as our friend should be in the neighbourhood. He was Captain St. Clair, Ardchonzie Lodge: at which retreat, throughout the sporting season now opened, the captain and his father would be delighted to profit by Mr. Ickerson's vicinity, with that of any friends of his who might incline to use the boats, or to shoot upon the moor. And before Ickerson left, in short, he had blandly reciprocated these advances, sociably engaging for us all that we would use the privilege at an early day; so that the hospitality of the St. Clairs, with the facilities and amenities of Ardchonzie Lodge, might fairly be considered open to us three. The luck of Ickerson, I repeat, is something inexplicable. What a number of friends he has, without any trouble to ever partial, ever discovering their mutuality, so as to increase, and be interconnected! Appearing improvident, uncalculative, unworldly-yet how does the world foster and pet him, playing, as it were, into his hands. Even his facile nature will not explain it-nor that diffuse, impersonal, lymphatic, selfunconsciousness, which makes all sorts of people fancy him theirs while they are with him. He must have some deep-seated ambition, surely, which he has marvellous powers to conceal. But at all events we returned together towards our quarters at the schoolmaster's, in the clachan of Glen-Samhach, full of Elysian prospects for many a day's rustication there. Loch-Diomhair was Utopia indeed-the very expanse we had sighed for, of Lethean novelty, of strange and deep Nepenthe, amidst a primitive race, who knew us not; a rudely-happy valley, where the spirit of nature alone could haunt us, asking none of our secrets in exchange for hers. То At our re-entrance to the humble lodging, as the dusk fell, my first glance caught upon an object on the table where our evening repast was to be spread. It was a letter-a letter addressed in some hand I recognised, to me. me, of course, these ghastly pursuers always come, if to any; and a vague foreboding seemed to have warned me as I crossed the threshold. It had not come by post, however it was no pursuing proof-sheet, nor dunning reminder, no unfavourable criticism, or conventional proposal. Simply, what bewildered me, till I read some words in the envelope-an inclosure of Frank Moir's letter from that spot to me, which I had read to Ickerson at Inversneyd, and supposed him to have retained. Í had forgot it again till I now saw it, and saw-by the pencilled note of Dr. Trellington Blythe-what the fact had been. I had dropped it in my haste on the little landing-pier, and it had attracted the sharp eye of Mr. McKillop as it lay. It was Mr. M'Killop who, with a degree of inadvertence, as Dr. Blythe's note explained, had read the |