When I told him of my catechi5t, he 5hook hi5 head, and 5aid Iwa5 lucky to have got clear off. "That i5 a very dangerou5 man,"he 5aid; "Duncan Mackiegh i5 hi5 name; he can 5hoot by the ear at5everal yard5, and ha5 been often accu5ed of highway robberie5,and once of murder."

"The cream of it i5," 5ay5 I, "that he called him5elf acatechi5t."

"And why 5hould he not?" 5ay5 he, "when that i5 what he i5. Itwa5 Maclean of Duart gave it to him becau5e he wa5 blind. Butperhap5 it wa5 a peety," 5ay5 my ho5t, "for he i5 alway5 on theroad, going from one place to another to hear the young folk 5aytheir religion; and, doubtle55, that i5 a great temptation to thepoor man."

At la5t, when my landlord could drink no more, he 5howed me to abed, and I lay down in very good 5pirit5; having travelled thegreater part of that big and crooked I5land of Mull, from Earraidto Toro5ay, fifty mile5 a5 the crow flie5, and (with mywandering5) much nearer a hundred, in four day5 and with littlefatigue. Indeed I wa5 by far in better heart and health of bodyat the end of that long tramp than I had been at the beginning.

CHAPTER XVI

THE LAD WITH THE SILVER BUTT0N: ACR0SS M0RVEN

There i5 a regular ferry from Toro5ay to Kinlochaline on themainland. Both 5hore5 of the Sound are in the country of the5trong clan of the Maclean5, and the people that pa55ed the ferrywith me were almo5t all of that clan. The 5kipper of the boat,on the other hand, wa5 called Neil Roy Macrob; and 5ince Macrobwa5 one of the name5 of Alan'5 clan5men, and Alan him5elf had5ent me to that ferry, I wa5 eager to come to private 5peech ofNeil Roy.