The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

WeCaught in a Ford.was half-past two o'clock, and I knew that even then theGramsdale Ford was too deep. To recross it was, however,our only chance. We continued at a brisk rate forabout ten minutes longer, anxiously peering through thefog in every direction in the hope of seeing land, but withoutsuccess. Another circumstance now increased myuneasiness, and that was the marked disinclination whichthe horse shewed towards the direction he was compelledto take, for he made several ineffectual attempts toturn tothe left. I was on the point of drawing the driver's attentionto this when splash ! the horse plunged into water.At the same time I saw a large black mass of water, withits white crest easily visible through the fog, rushingtowards us ;and the driver exclaiming in Gaelic— " AThighearna ! se tha so an cuan " (My God ! this is theocean), turned the horse right round at the same momentthat the wave broke over us in a cloud of spray. Thedriver now lost his presence of mind completely, and forthe first time I myself fully realised the extreme gravity ofour position. Here we were perhaps miles from a place ofsafety with the flowing tide rushing in with great velocity.Our only hope of safety lay in immediate action, but what wasto be done ! had no idea where we were nor in whatdirection we were now to go. A bright thought struck me^and one that we should have acted on before now. I askedthe driver if the horse had often been through the ford, andif he were likely to find his way home if left to himselfThe reply to both questions was in the affirmative, and thehorse, prompted by a few lashes of the whip, bounded forwardat a smart gallop. But alas ! our hope of safety,raised for a moment by our confidence in the instinctiveknowledge of the horse, was but short-lived ;for I rememberedthat even should the animal endeavour to return toBenbecula, the Gramsdale Ford was far too deep, for thesplash of the horse's feet told us that the tide was rapidlyrising even on the higher sands, and that it would in a shorttime cover the whole expanse. Our only chance was to