The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

TJirongh Darkest Inverness-shirc. 673
other at the Zulu war, and such a thing as a bedridden
Zulu he had ne\cr heard of, also adding gratuitously something
about it being " all kid," and that any one of them
would " take me all in."
These unexpected observations made me deem it
advisable to scuttle out of Africa, and transfer my exploits
to some equally savage, if less known spot. They also had
the effect of rousing some latent ferocity in my nature.
The idea that both the collie and the tramp had had the
best of the interviews, made me grow " stern and wild," so
without further mask of ceremon\-, I allowed him get well
on in front, and so, b\' and b}e, like Bunyan's Pilgrim, I
saw him no more.
My ideas with regard to tramps are now changed.
After I had resumed my walk for some miles, I found
to m\' dismay that the track branched off, one branch going
eastwards, and the other to the north. Here was a problem,
then. W'hich should I take ? One was the right one, but
which was it ?
I have adopted a principle in dubious matters of this
kind, which on more than one occasion I have found to
work well—that principle simply is, When in doubt, select
the least likely. In this instance I saw the north branch
would take me to a more picturesque, less dreary-looking
district than the east branch. Accordingly, acting on my
principle, I took the latter, and to my great relief and joy,
I found that after a cheerless tramp of a mile or two, I had
actually reached my journey's end.
Warmth and food and a dry atmosphere are in them-
selves great luxuries, but after the experiences of that
particular morning, the luxuriousness of them was un-
bounded.
I received a " Highland" welcome— which, in my
'experience, is much the same a.s a " Low land" one— trans-
acted m\- business, and got once more back to the railway
works, checrfuiK- enough, but tircfl out and wet to the skin.
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