The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1866-10-26
Bafned Robbers.

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| was called out Of Inverne ss-shire to
attend meeting of the General As
sembly of the Church of Scotland in
Edinburgb; and having been but
newly placed over my charge, my cir
cumstances were as yet so limited
that, upon making the necessary prepa-
rations for the journey to Edinburgh,
/ could muster no more than one
poor solitary half-crown i'll cash to
meet my travelling expenses sum
totally inadequate to pay any or but a
small part of any means OF convey
ance. The call being hurried, had
no time to write to any of my brethren
for the needful funds, and not caring
to ask this from any of my parishon-
ers, but expecting that, when come to
Edinburgh, | would get such assist
ance as ] required from some of my
brethren, or some friend whom | knew,
| resolved to set out on foot, husband
ing my half-crown in such way as
would afford me the necessary victuals,
without having recourse to begging
during the journey. Having received
the letter OF convention in the after
noon, l resolved to start the next morn
ing, there being only FIVE days before
the meeting of the Assembly. In the
dim dawn, accordingly, was on my
way, and after pushing on for an hour
or two, and entering the high-road from
Inverness TO the south, / deserted,
some distance ahead of me, a man on
horseback, leading in his hand anoth-
Ell horse. Having come up with the
rider, who was going forward at an
easy pace, | began to be afraid, and
trembled when | saw that the man
was quite black. You must remember
that ! was a young man and High
lander; and though | had heard ofthe
black men OF the Indies, yet, consider
ing the unreasonable hour, and, as l
had never heard of any black men hay-
ing ever been seen in that neighbor-
hood before except the devil, who was
believed to assume that appearance, L
was not without some doubts of this
strange apparition, and for some time
| narrowly watched the man and his
movements. Having ventured to ac-
cost him, | perceived he was eager for
conversation, which was carried OIL
while | kept cautiously toward the 9TH
er side of the road At length, having
told him that / was going to Edn-
burgh, the blackman replied that he
was bound hitherward also, and offered
me the horse which he led. This, as
my misgivings regarding the person
ahty of the black horseman had begun
to give way was glad to accept, in
wardly thanking Providence for hav-
ing thus favored me with such good
fortune.
1t turned out that the black was the
servant or slave of "a rich Jamaica plan
ter, who was at that time nome on "a
visit to his Highland friends, and that
the spare horse was for the master,
who had gone forward Il day i'll adj
vance of the horseman, to enjoy IA " ak
through the Highlands. Ny good for
tune was not then quite 50 great as
had at first calculated, but yet | was
very glad. The day was spent very
pleasantly, the blackman raising my
astonishment by conyersing very free
ly in Gaelic, which, it appeared, was
well known to the West Indies; while
| myself, taking advantage of the occa-
sion, and finding the man was as will
ing to learn as he was also Ignorant
of religion, spent the most of the day S
journey in unfolding to him the truths
of the Divine record, until / came to
regard my new friend, whom, from his
wild and swarthy looks, | at first
looked upon with dread and abhor-
renee, with brotherly affection, found
ed not only on cur common relation
ship to the first, but also to the second
Adam.
When night was coming down, and
we had entered the bleak hill country,
we left the main road, and struck up
through the hills, expecting to find
some human habitation, where, for the
sake of the horses, we might spend the
night; but after pursuing our errand
for some time without anything APP
pearing to meet our desire, and our
route having become very fatiguing
and dangerous, the ground being eve
rywhere broken and puddled, and Of
ten covered by the thick and inter
growing heather, we came to a halt,
and having no other resort, set about
making preparations for spending the
night in the open air. Wiling to
make one more effort for the sake of
the beasts, l proposed ascending to
the top of high hill that appeared
to the southwark, and, leaving the
black with the horses, i reached the
summit of the hill in about half an
hour, and was delighted to catch in
my eye the distant glimmering Of the
light of habtation, and after having
marked the position of the light, | at
once retraeed my steps down the hill.
We now remounted, and after little
more fatigue, and n few escapes, aris-
ing as much from our ignorance of the
ground as from its real difficulty, we
arrived at the place to which the light
directed us. This turned out to be a
bohaaari, or shepherd s shielding, rath-
er larger than the ordinary dimen-
sions, and looking by no means I'M
comfoi table. Having secured and
....z...loJ for N,,r boroac for tho pirht