his expanded nostrils the tainted air." We shake our heads. "Well,
then, it was a waterspout--or, perhaps, a beautiful rainbow--or
something electric, or a phenomenon of some sort." Utterly wrong. It was
neither more nor less, reader, than a crowd of soldiers, occupying
nearly the whole table-land of the summit! Yes, there they were, British
troops, with their red coats, dark gray trousers, and fatigue caps, as
distinctly as we ever saw them in Marshall's panoramas! We were reminded
of the fine description which Scott gives of the Highland girl who was
gazing indolently along the solitary glen of Gortuleg on the day of the
battle of Culloden, when it became suddenly peopled by the Jacobite
fugitives. "Impressed with the belief that they were fairies--who,
according to Highland tradition, are visible to men only from one
twinkle of the eyelid to another--she strove to refrain from the
vibration, which she believed would occasion the strange and magnificent
apparition to become invisible." But whether the eye winked or not,
there they were--substantial able-bodied fellows; what could it mean?
Had Colonel Mitchell discovered a new system for protecting the country
by fortifying the tops of mountains which an enemy never comes near?
Could it be some awkward squad sent to be drilled on this remote spot
that it might escape the observation of the sarcastic public? Such were
the theories as suddenly rejected as they were suggested. It was vain to
speculate. No solution we could devise made the slightest approach to
probability; and our only prospect of speedy relief was in pushing
rapidly forward. A very short sentence from the good-humoured looking
young fellow who received our first breathless and perplexed inquiry,
solved the mystery,--"did you never hear of the Ordnance Survey?" Yes,
indeed, we had heard of it; but our impression of it was as of something
like a mathematical line, with neither breadth nor thickness; but here
it was in substantial operation. The party were occupied in erecting a
sort of dwelling for themselves--half tent, half hut. Though in fatigue
dresses, and far from being very trim, it was easy to see that they were
not common soldiers. They belong, we believe, to the educated corps of
sappers and miners; and a short conversation with them showed that the
reputation of intelligence and civility long enjoyed by that
distinguished body has not been unjustly earned. Though not blind to the
magnificence of