The _Tobermory's_ a boat that wanders every
month up the West Highlands as far as Stornoway. I've arranged for ye
to take a trip on that boat, Mr Brand.'

I nodded. 'How did you find out that?' I asked.

'It took me some finding,' he said dryly, 'but I've ways and means. Now
I'll not trouble ye with advice, for ye ken your job as well as me. But
I'm going north myself the morn to look after some of the Ross-shire
wuds, and I'll be in the way of getting telegrams at the Kyle. Ye'll
keep that in mind. Keep in mind, too, that I'm a great reader of the
_Pilgrim's Progress_ and that I've a cousin of the name of Ochterlony.'

CHAPTER FIVE

Various Doings in the West

The _Tobermory_ was no ship for passengers. Its decks were littered
with a hundred oddments, so that a man could barely walk a step without
tacking, and my bunk was simply a shelf in the frowsty little saloon,
where the odour of ham and eggs hung like a fog. I joined her at
Greenock and took a turn on deck with the captain after tea, when he
told me the names of the big blue hills to the north. He had a fine old
copper-coloured face and side-whiskers like an archbishop, and, having
spent all his days beating up the western seas, had as many yarns in
his head as Peter himself.

'On this boat,' he announced, 'we don't ken what a day may bring forth.
I may put into Colonsay for twa hours and bide there three days. I get
a telegram at Oban and the next thing I'm awa ayont Barra. Sheep's the
difficult business. They maun be fetched for the sales, and they're
dooms slow to lift. So ye see it's not what ye call a pleasure trip,
Maister Brand.'

Indeed it wasn't, for the confounded tub wallowed like a fat sow as
soon as we rounded a headland and got the weight of the south-western
wind. When asked my purpose, I explained that I was a colonial of Scots
extraction, who was paying his first visit to his fatherland and wanted
to explore the beauties of the West Highlands. I let him gather that I
was not rich in this world's goods.

'Ye'll have a passport?' he asked. 'They'll no let ye go north o' Fort
William without one.'

Amos had said nothing about passports, so I looked blank.

'I could keep ye on board for the whole voyage,' he went on, 'but ye
wouldna be permitted to land. If ye're seekin' enjoyment, it would be a
poor job sittin' on this deck and admirin' the works o' God and no
allowed to step on the pier-head. Ye should have applied to the
military