Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

DUNVEGAN. 459
rise early or rise late, 'tis all one. How we dodged the
tide, and why we were not swallowed up in the black
mud of Loch Snizort, Roger best knows. Where he was
going, he alone knew ; I doubted not that he had a friend
somewhere in this wide world, dark as it now was. At
length his nose was stopped by a swing gate, as I could
hear by the jingling of the latch; and, in a minute more,
had the stable door been a little wider, I should not have
stuck in the passage. " Ah ! Roger, is that you ;" said a
gentleman who issued from the house. The Yahoo made
his best bow, and the Gentleman-Usher was thanked
for the introduction by a sieve of oats.
I wish some of my friends would study the Odyssey.
They may read it in Pope ; if they have forgotten their
Greek. The King of the Phseacians, who was probably
a kind of Highland Chief, does not choose to detain
Ulysses, lest he should offend the Gods: but as there are
no Gods in Sky except the goddess Anaitis ; and as she
has been ousted by the Reformation, it is probable that
Roger's present friend had studied in another school. So
it was, however, that he understood both parts of hospitality
; Xpv) ^Bivov Ttapeovra (piXetv, i6eXovra Se 'Kej/.Tceiv. Whether
Roger was aware of his peculiar merits, I have not
yet discovered. He probably knew that he should find
a stable to sleep in, and that he should get his break-
fast at nine ; for which reason, whenever you wish to save
your day in Sky, I recommend you to apply to Roger for
an introduction.
It is a dull and dreary ride from Portree to Dunvegan.
But this castle gains both on the eye and the imagina-
tion, by the previous blank. Nothing can well be more
striking than its first effect, as seen at the termination of
a wide sweep of bare brown moor, spread far around,
without a single object to distract the attention. The red
flag was floating in the breeze over the battlements, as it