e) was going away to Scotland quite heart-whole.

CHAPTER VII.

IN STRATHAIVRON.

It was still early in the afternoon when Lionel found himself driving
along a loftily-winding road overlooking the wide and fertile valley of
the Aivron. Right down below him, and visible through the birch-trees,
was the river itself, of a brilliant, clear-shining blue, save where in
some more distant sweeps it shone a silver-white; on the other side of
the broad strath rose a range of hill fringed along its base with wood,
but terminating in the west in far altitudes of bare rock and heather;
while now and again he could catch a glimpse of some still more distant
peak or shoulder, no doubt belonging to the remote and mountainous
region of Assynt. And there, in the middle of the plain, stood the
shooting-lodge for which he was bound--a long, rambling building or
series of buildings, with all sorts of kennels and out-houses and
deer-houses attached; and as he was regarding this goal and aim of his
journey, and wondering how he was going to get across the swift-flowing
stream, behold! a white fluttering of handkerchiefs just outside the
porch. It was a signal to him, he knew; and he returned it more than
once--until, indeed, he discovered that his driver was leaving the road
and about to take the horses down a rudely cut track on the hillside.

"I say, isn't there a bridge anywhere?" he asked; for he was not used to
such exploits.

"Aw, no, there's no bridge," the old Highland driver said, coolly, as he
jammed down the brake. "But we'll do ferry well at the ford; the water
is not so high the now."

"And when the water is high, what do they do then?" Lionel asked, as he
regarded with some concern the almost vertical pole and the straining
harness.

"Aw, well, there uss a boat; and if there's a spate on the ruvver they
can come and go; but not with the heavy things. Ay, I hef seen tons of
coal waiting for them at Invershin for near a fortnight when there wass
a heavy spate on the ruvver. The leddies are so particular nowadays;
peat will not do for them for the cooking; naw, they must hef coal."

But now the horses were entering the stream, and the old man's loquacity
ceased. The animals, however, seemed quite accustomed to this
performance; without any hesitation they adventured into the rapid
current, and splashed their way forward, getting such footing as was
possible among the big, loose stones and shingle. Indeed, the pass