ch Tay; and a thousand voices hailed the youthful chieftain as he
stood on the poop, armed at all points, in the flower of early manhood,
beauty, and activity, on the very spot where his father's corpse had so
lately been extended, and surrounded by triumphant friends, as that had
been by desolate mourners.

One boat kept closest of the flotilla to the honoured galley. Torquil
of the Oak, a grizzled giant, was steersman; and his eight sons, each
exceeding the ordinary stature of mankind, pulled the oars. Like some
powerful and favourite wolf hound, unloosed from his couples, and
frolicking around a liberal master, the boat of the foster brethren
passed the chieftain's barge, now on one side and now on another, and
even rowed around it, as if in extravagance of joy; while, at the same
time, with the jealous vigilance of the animal we have compared it to,
they made it dangerous for any other of the flotilla to approach so near
as themselves, from the risk of being run down by their impetuous
and reckless manoeuvres. Raised to an eminent rank in the clan by the
succession of their foster brother to the command of the Clan Quhele,
this was the tumultuous and almost terrible mode in which they testified
their peculiar share in their chief's triumph.

Far behind, and with different feelings, on the part of one at least of
the company, came the small boat in which, manned by the Booshalloch and
one of his sons, Simon Glover was a passenger.

"If we are bound for the head of the lake," said Simon to his friend,
"we shall hardly be there for hours."

But as he spoke the crew of the boat of the foster brethren, or
leichtach, on a signal from the chief's galley, lay on their oars until
the Booshalloch's boat came up, and throwing on board a rope of hides,
which Niel made fast to the head of his skiff, they stretched to their
oars once more, and, notwithstanding they had the small boat in tow,
swept through the lake with almost the same rapidity as before. The
skiff was tugged on with a velocity which seemed to hazard the pulling
her under water, or the separation of her head from her other timbers.

Simon Glover saw with anxiety the reckless fury of their course, and the
bows of the boat occasionally brought within an inch or two of the level
of the water; and though his friend, Niel Booshalloch, assured him it
was all done in especial honour, he heartily wished his voyage might
have a safe termination. It had so, and much soo