However, there it is now, and lucky it is you have got it. However hard
the times, however great the danger, a man will hardly starve in Scotland
with fifty pounds in his pocket; so now we will turn our faces west, and
make for the head of one of the lochs; there are plenty of fish to be had
for catching, and with them and a little oatmeal and a bottle or two of
whiskey we can live like lords."
They walked for some hours, and stopped for the night in the hut of a
shepherd, who received them hospitably, but could give them but little
food, his scanty supplies being almost exhausted, for, as he told them,
"the hills are full of fugitives, and those who come all cry for meal; as
for meat, there is no want of it. Men won't starve as long as there are
sheep and cattle to be had for lifting them, and at present there are
more of these than usual in the hills, for they have all been driven up
from the villages lest they should fall into the hands of the troopers;
but meal is scarce, for men dare not go down to the villages to buy, and
we only get it when the women bring it up as they have a chance."
In the morning the shepherd gave them directions as to the way they
should take, and a few hours later they came down upon the head of one of
the many deep inlets on the western coast. A small fishing boat stood on
the shore, but they dared not descend into this, but made their way to
the point where, as the shepherd had told them, a stream which flowed
from a mountain tarn some miles inland made its way down into the sea.
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