Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1893-02-11

pleasure OF my company (me that is a
man of some learning) in the bargain. !"
I said did not see how a blind man
could be guide, but at that he laughed
aloud and said his stick was eyes enough
for an eagle.
"In the Isle of Null at least" says he,
"where / knew every stone and heather
bush by mark of head. "See now," he
said, striking right and left as if to make
sure, "down there burn is running,
and at the head of it there stands BIZ
of small hill with stone cooked upon
the top Of that, and it's hard at the foot
of the hill that the way runs by to Toro-
say, and the way here being for droves
is plainly trodden and will show grassy
through the heather"
had to own he was right in every
feature, and told my wonder.
"Ha," says he, "that's nothing. Would
We believe me now, that before the act
came out and when there were weapons
in this country l could shoot? Aye,
could r. cries he. and then with leer,
'If We had such thing as pistol here
to try with, l would show you how its
done"
told him had nothing of the sort,
and gave him wider berth. If he had
known, his pistol stuck at that time
quite plainly out of his pocket, and ]
could see the sun twinkle on the steel of
the butt. But by the better luck foI
me he knew nothing; thought all was
covered and lied on in the dark.
He then began to question me Gun.
ningly-where ! came from, whether ]
was rich, whether / could change five
shilling piece for him (which he declared
he had at that moment in his sporran),
and all the time he kept edging up to
me and avoiding him. We were now
upon sort of green cattle track which
crossed the hills toward Torosay, and
we kept changing sides upon that like
dancers in reel. had SO plainly the
upper hand that my spirits arose, and
indeed took pleasure in this game Of
blind mans buff; but the catechist grew
angrier and angrieY, and at last began
to swear in Gaelic and to strike for my
legs with his staff.
Then | told him that, sure enough, ]
had pistol in my pocket as well as he,
and if he did not strike across the hill
due south would even blow his brains
out.
He became at once very polite, and
after trying to soften me for some time,
but quite in vain, he cursed me once
more in Gaelic and took himself off.
Then l struck on again for Torosay.
At Torosay, on the Sound of Null and
looking over to the mainland of Morven.
there was an inn with an innkeeper, who
was Maclean it appeared of a very
high family, for to keep an inn is thought
even more genteel in the highlands than
it is with us, perhaps as partaking OF
hospitality, or perhaps because the trade
is idle and drunken. He spoke good
English, and finding me to be something
of a scholar, tried me first in French,
where he easily beat me, and then in
Latin, in which don't know which of
us did best. This pleasant rivalry put
us at once ON friendly terms, and l sat
up and drank punch with him (or, to be
more correct, sat up and watched him
drink it) until he was so tipsy that he
wept upon my shoulder
/ tried him, as if by accident, with O
sight of Alan's button, but it was plain
he had never seen or heard of it. In
deed he bore some grudge against the
family and friends of Ardshiel, and be
fore he was drunk he read me lam
poon in very good Latin, but with q
very i'll meaning, which he had made in
elegiac verses upon person Of that
house.
When told him of my catechist he
shook his head and said that was
lucky to have got clear off. THAT is q
very dangerous man, he said; Duncan
Mackiegh is his name; he can shoot by
the ear at several yards, and has beer
often accused of highway robberies and
once of murder"
"The cream of it is" says l, "that he
called himself'a catechist."
"And why should he not?" says he
"when that is what he is? 1t was Mac
lean, of Quart, gave it to him because
he was blind. But perhaps it was q
peety," says my host, "for he is alway:
ON the road, going from one place to an
other to hear the young folk say theil
religion; and doubtless that is a great
| temptation to the poor man."
At last when my landlord could
drink no more he showed me to bed
and lay down in very good spirits, hav
ing travelled the greater part of thai
big and crooked Island Of Null, from
Earraid to Torosay, fifty miles as the
crow flies, and with my wandering'
much nearer a hundred, in four days
and with little fatigue. Indeed, wa'
by far in better heart and health o.
body at the end of that long tramp thar
| had been at the beginning.