The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

212 The Highland Monthly.
get to one of the islets or rocks in the middle of the ford
and for these we kept a sharp look out. Meanwhile we
were going at great speed. It was a race for life or—death !
We might at any time plunge into one of the deep holes or
channels with which the sands abound, or even worse still,
we might be swallowed up by quicksands, from which we
could never extricate ourselves. Or, avoiding these
dangers, were we to wander in the ford feeling the water
rise gradually higher and higher until the horse, unable to
battle with his invincible enemy any longer, would succumb,
and then ? Still on we went through the thick
grey fog, and the splash, splash, of the horse's feet
warned us that the water was getting deeper and deeper-
And in what direction was the horse proceeding ? We
knew not. And still we urged him on, on, no matter
where, only somewhere, for our danger was every minute
becoming more imminent. And we could hear the roaring
of the rising waters on all sides like the roar of a hungry
lion in chase of its prey ; and the wild and weird screams
of the sea fowls as they, too, kept pace with the dark
waters, seemed to me like the laughter of demons rejoicing
in our destruction. And in the midst of these discordant
sounds, which filled me with a kind of superstitious fear,
could be heard the whiz of the driver's lash as it sharply
cut the air in its descent to the flanks of the noble animal
that, as if conscious of the danger that threatened us,
seemed to exert every muscle in his body. How long this
race continued I know not. It could not have lasted more
than ten minutes, but to me it seemed an age. At last I
perceived a dark object away to the left, and directing the
driver's attention thereto, I told him to drive towards it.
In a few minutes we had reached it, and our joy may be
better imagined than described when we found it was a rock
evidently high enough above high-water mark to afford us
a place of safety. We plunged through a sheet of water
that, to the depth of about three feet, surrounded the rock