The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

Caught in a Ford. 209
suspicions were only too well founded. We had not
advanced far after this when the driver expressed his
inability to proceed farther without the stones to guide
him. I hinted that we had better return to Benbecula, to
which he consented, adding, as he jumped out of the gig,
" that he would have a look round " in the hope of ascer-
taining where we were. The next moment he had
disappeared. I took the reins and patiently awaited his
return.
I was now left alone in charge of the horse, ?nd my
mind naturally reverted to my peculiar, not to say danger-
ous, position. I had often read and heard of adventures
many of them tragic enough, that had befallen persons
similarly placed as I was, and stories of such adventures
now rushed through my mind, causing a peculiar sensation
which was not altogether devoid of fear. I looked in all
directions for some indication of our locality ; but what
was my consternation to find that the fog had hidden
every object from view, and that nothing was visible but
sand on all sides ; indeed, the fog and sand seemed so
blended together that it was impossible to distinguish the
line of demarcation. Not a star was to be seen, nothing
but that grey mass that every moment gradually narrowed
my range of vision. Our position was critical in the
extreme. Here we were somewhere about the middle
of the ford, with the tide coming in for the last two
hours. Even now to cross the channels would be
attended with considerable danger, and in another
half hour they would be impassable. I saw that something
must be done, and that immediately. The driver had not
yet returned. I looked for him, but in vain. I whistled,
softly at first ; no answer ! I shouted, but there was no
response ! ! Oh horrors ! had he lost his way on the sands,
and wandered so far that he could not hear me ? I again
shouted at the top of my voice, and my anxiety was soon
relieved when I heard a responsive shout in the distance.
In a {q.\\ minutes my man made his appearance, with the
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