, and pledged myself to stand or fall with my
brethren. On my return I called my people together, and told them how
the case stood, and that in May next I bade fair to be a dependent for a
home on the proprietor of Eigg. And so they petitioned the proprietor
that he might give me leave to build a house among them,--exactly the
same sort of favor granted to the Roman Catholics of the island. But
month after month passed, and they got no reply to their petition; and I
was left in suspense, not knowing whether I was to have a home among
them or no. I did feel the case a somewhat hard one. The father of Dr.
M'Pherson of Eigg had been, like myself, a humble Scotch minister; and
the Doctor, however indifferent to his people's wishes in such a matter,
might have just thought that a man in his father's station in life, with
a wife and family dependent on him, was placed by his silence in cruel
circumstances of uncertainty. Ere the Disruption took place, however, I
came to know pretty conclusively what I had to expect. The Doctor's
factor came to Eigg, and, as I was informed, told the Islanders that it
was not likely the Doctor would permit a _third_ place of worship on the
Island: the Roman Catholics had one, and the Establishment had a kind of
one, and there was to be no more. The factor, an active
messenger-at-arms, useful in raising rents in these parts, has always
been understood to speak the mind of his master; but the congregation
took heart in the emergency, and sent off a second petition to Dr.
M'Pherson, a week or so previous to the Disruption. Ere _it_ received an
answer, the Disruption took place; and, laying the whole circumstances
before my brethren in Edinburgh, who, like myself, interpreted the
silence of the Doctor into a refusal, I suggested to them the scheme of
the Betsey, as the only scheme through which I could keep up unbroken my
connection with my people. So the trial is now over, and here we are,
and yonder is the Betsey."

We descended the Scuir together for the place of meeting, and entered,
by the way, the cottage of a worthy islander, much attached to his
minister. "We are both very hungry," said my friend: "we have been out
among the rocks since breakfast-time, and are wonderfully disposed to
eat. Do not put yourself about, but give us anything you have at hand."
There was a bowl of rich milk brought us, and a splendid platter of
mashed potatoes, and we dined like princes. I observed, for the first