When I remarked on this propensity to the driver,
he replied, with a kindly grin, ' Ah, sir, he likes fine
to be ganging oop the braes. ' Early in the day we

167



WILLIAM BLACK

had munched our sandwiches and drained our flasks
with keen appetite, and reckoned that we should
lunch comfortably at the inn above mentioned —
about sixteen miles, as Black calculated, from our
landing-place — ^and that we should cover the same
distance to Bunessan, in another vehicle and with a
fresh horse, in time for dinner. The sky grew dark-
er, the wind keener and shriller, and the landscape
drearier as we neared the bare-looking hostelry at
the head of Loch Scridian. There a cruel disappoint-
ment awaited us — we were very hungry — and Black,
for once, seemed to be half ashamed of his country.
