Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1896-08-31


one on the other. The men gave way,
however with a good will. the passen-
gers taking spells to help them, and The
whole company giving the time in Gaelic
boat-songs. And what with the songs, and
the sea air, and the good nature and
spirit of all concerned, and the bright
weather, the passage was a pretty thing
to have seen.
But there was one melancholy part
In the mouth of Loeb Alne we found a
great sea-going ship at anchor; and this
| supposed at first to be one of the
kings cruisers which were kept along
that coast both summer and winter, to
prevent communication with the French.
AS we got a little nearer, it became plain
she was a ship of merchandise; and
what still more puzzled me, not only her
decks, but the sea-beach also, were quite
black with people, and skiffs were con-
tinually plying TO and fro between hem
Yet nearer, and there began to come to
our ears a great sound Of mourning, the
people on board and those on the shore
crying and lamenting one to another so
as to pierce the heart.
Then / understood this was an emil
grant ship bound for the American colo
MES.
We put the ferry-boat alongside, and
the eXiles leaned over the bulwarks,
weeping and reaching out their hands to
my fellow passengers, among whom
they counted some near friends. How
long this might have gone on [ do not
know, for they seemed to have no %ense
of time; but at last the captain of the
ship, who seemed near beside himself
(and no great wonder in the midst of
this crying and confusion, came to the
side and begged us to depart.
Thereupon Neil sheered off; and the
chief singer in our boat struck into a
melancholy air, which was presently
taken up both by the emigrants end
their friends upon the beach. SO that it
sounded from all sides like lament for
the dying. | saw the tears run down
the cheeks of the men and women IN the
boat, even as they bent at the oars; and
the circumstances, and the music Of The
song (Which is one called "Lochaber No
More'O were highly affecting even to
myself.
At Kinlochaline I got >-eil Roy upon
one side on the beach, and said I made
sure he was one of Appin's men.
''And what for no?" said he.
Il am seeking somebody" said [;
and it comes in my nina that you will
have. news Of him. Alan Breck Stewart
is his name" And very foolishly. in
stead of showing him the button,
sought to pass a shilling in his hand.
At this he drew back. Il am very
much affronted," he said "and tl;is is
not the way that one shentleman should
behave to another at all. The man
you ask for is in France, but if he was
belly full of shillings. would not hurt
a hair upon his body"
| saw | had gone the wrong way to
work, and without wasting time upon
apologies, showed him the button lying
i'll the hollow of my palm.
'Aweel, aweel," said Neil, land 1
think We might have begun with that end
of fhn +.a1v hot D,.4 e
the, lad with the silver button, all is
well, and have the word to see that We
come safe But if We will pardon me
to speak plainly" says he, ''there is a
name that you should never take into
your mouth, and that is the name of
Alan Breck; and there is thing that We
would never do. and that is to offer
your dirty money to a Hieland shentle-
man."
1t was not very easy to apologize; for
| could scarcely tell him what was the
TRUTH that | had never dreamed he
would set up to be a gentleman until he
told me So Neil on his part had no
wish to prolong his dealings with me,
only to fulfill his orders and be done
with it: and he made haste to give me
my route. This was to lie the night
in kinlochaline in the public inn; to cross
Alorven the next day to Ardgour, and lie
the night in the house Of one John of the
come; the third day, to be set across
one loch at Corran and another at Bal
achulish, and then ask my way to the
house of James of the Glens, at Aucharn
in Duror of Appin. There was good
deal of ferrying as you hear; the sea
in all this part running deep into the
mountains and winding about their
roots. 1t makes the country strong to
hold and difficult to travel. but full Of
pr0dlgious, wild and dreadful prospects.
| had some other advice from Neil;
TO speak with no one by the way, to
avoid Wings, CampbeIls, and the ''red
soldiers to leave the road and lie
in a bush. if | saw any of the latter
coming, for it was never CLANCY to
meet in with Them" and in brief. to con-
duct myself like robber or a Jacobite
agent as perhaps Neil thought me-
The, inn at KinlochaIine was the
most beggarly, vile place that ever pigs
We're styed in. full of smoke, vermin
and silent Highlanders. | was not only
with my lodgings, but with
myself for my mlsmanagement of Neil
and thought | could hardly be worse
off. But very wrongly, as | was soon
to see; for | had not been half an hour
at the inn (standing at the door most
of the time. to ease my eyes from the
peat smOke) when 4 thunderstorm came
close by, the springs broke in little
hill on which the inn Stood and one end
or the mouse became running water.
Places Of public entertainment were bad
enough all over Scotland in those days:
yet it was a wonder to myself, when /
had to go from the Preside to the bed
in which [ slept, wadi1,g over the shoes.
Early in my next days journay | over
took little, stout, solemn man, walking
very slowly with his toes turned our,
sometimes reading in a book and some
times marking the place with his finger,
and dressed recently and plainly in some
thing of clerical style.
This I found to be another catechist,
but of different order from the blind
man of Null; being indeed one of those
sent out by the Edinburgh Society for
Propagating Christian knowledge, to
evangelize the more savage places of
the Highlands. His name was Hender
land; he spoke with the broad south
country tongue, which | was beginning
to weary for the sound of; and be-
sides common countryship, we soon
found we had a more particular
bond of interest. For my good friend,
the minister of Essendean, had translat-.
ed into the Gaelic in his by-time a num-
bar Of HYMNS and mons hooks which