THE HIGHLAND GLENS.
“Now,” said Grimkie, when the party arrived at the hotel in Glasgow,
“we have come to the end of the first stage of our journey, that is the
railway stage of it. The next is the steamboat stage.”
“I am glad of that,” said Florence. “The railway ride was very
pleasant, but I am ready for a change.”
Grimkie had learned in the course of the conversations which he had
held with his fellow-passengers on board the ship at sea, that it was
best, in travelling in Scotland, especially among the Highlands, to
take as little baggage as possible.
“On whichever side of Scotland you go up,” said one of these gentlemen,
“you will be likely to come down on the other side, so that your
journey will either begin at Glasgow and end at Edinburgh, or it
will begin at Edinburgh and end at Glasgow. You will find it better
therefore, when you are ready to set out from either of those towns,
to put all that you will want for the journey in one trunk, and send
all the rest of your baggage across to some hotel in the other town, to
wait there for you till you come back.”
Grimkie explained all this to his aunt, at the breakfast table at
their hotel in Glasgow. Mrs. Morelle looked at her travelling map of
Scotland, and she saw that Edinburgh and Glasgow were in fact situated
as is represented above.
“We shall probably come down from the Orkneys on that side of the
island,” said she, “and I think it would be convenient to have our
trunks go there, all except one—but then, Grimkie, we don’t know how
to send them there. I suppose there is some kind of express, if we only
knew where the office was.”
“Ah, but you remember, Auntie, that father told us that all we had to
do was to be able to tell distinctly what we wanted, and the people
here would find out how it was to be done.”
“That was in the public offices,” said Mrs. Morelle.
“It will do just as well in the hotels I expect, Auntie,” said Grimkie.
“May I ring the bell and try?”
Mrs. Morelle gave the required permission, and Grimkie rang the bell.
Very soon the waiter appeared.
“I want to see about sending some baggage to Edinburgh,” said Grimkie.
“Yes, sir,” said the waiter. “I’ll send up Boots directly.”
Boots is the familiar name by which the porter is designated in the
English inns. In these inns moreover every servant has his own definite
duties to perform, and these are never on any account intermingled. It
is the porter’s duty to know about railway trains, and conveyances of
all kinds, and about baggage, and sending letters and parcels, and all
such things. The waiter’s duty, on the other hand, is confined entirely
to the service of the table, and to acts of personal attendance upon
the guests within the hotel. If any question arises pertaining to
transportation or conveyance of any kind, he has but one answer—“Yes,
sir, I’ll send Boots.”
In a few minutes the porter appeared, cap in hand.
“We want to inquire about sending some of our luggage to Edinburgh,”
said Grimkie. “We are going to make a tour in the north of Scotland,
and we thought it would be best to send most of our luggage to
Edinburgh to wait there till we come.”
“Yes, sir,” said the porter, “that will be much the best way for you.”
“And how shall we manage it?” asked Grimkie. “What have I to do?”
“You have nothing at all to do,” said the porter, “except to tell me
the name of the hotel where you will go—or put it upon your luggage,
and leave it in your room here when you go away. I will attend to it
all, and you will find it quite safe at the hotel when you arrive
there.”
“And how about paying?” asked Grimkie. “Shall we pay you?”
“No, sir,” said the porter, “you will have nothing to pay here. It will
not be much, and they will pay at the hotel in Edinburgh and put it in
your bill.”
“That will be exactly the thing, Auntie,” said Grimkie. “Only,” he
added, “we do not know what hotel we shall go to.”
On being asked by Mrs. Morelle, the porter gave them the address of a
good hotel in Edinburgh, which he said was in a pleasant situation, and
a well kept house. He also brought Grimkie a package of gum labels,
such as are used in England for labelling baggage. Grimkie wrote Mrs.
Morelle’s name on several of these labels, and also the name of the
hotel which the porter had given him, and then, after his aunt had
selected from all the trunks what she thought would be required for the
whole party during the tour in Scotland, and had put them in the one
which she was to take, Grimkie with the assistance of the porter locked
and strapped the others, and put the labels upon them.
The party spent the rest of the day in rambling about Glasgow, and in
amusing themselves with the various objects of interest which met their
view in the streets and in the environs, and the next morning before
breakfast, they went on board the steamer Iona, which was to take them
to Inverness.
They enjoyed the voyage exceedingly although at first Florence was
somewhat disappointed in respect to the steamer, which she had expected
would be as much superior, in respect to its size, and its decorations,
to those plying upon the North River, as Europe is generally considered
superior to America. Instead of this, the Iona was comparatively
quite small, but it was very neatly arranged, and there was a small,
but richly furnished cabin below, which looked exceedingly snug and
comfortable.
After rambling about the steamer until they had explored it in every
part, the children went with Mrs. Morelle and chose a place upon the
deck at a corner near the companion-way, where they could enjoy the
views on every side, and at the same time, could be comfortably seated
all the time, if they chose, on camp-stools and benches.
[Illustration: ON BOARD THE IONA.]
Here they remained for several hours enjoying the most charming
succession of views of mountain scenery that can be imagined. Grimkie,
by means of the maps and guide books, followed the course of the
steamer, and found out the names of all the villages, and castles, and
country seats, which came successively into view, and pointed them out
to his aunt and Florence who examined them attentively, especially the
old castles, by means of the opera glass.
The course of the steamer lay through a succession of channels, lakes
and sounds, most of which were connected with the sea, but they were
so hemmed in by the promontories and islands which bordered them, as
to make it seem to the party as if they were navigating inland waters
altogether. The channels of water were so narrow too, in most cases,
that the land was very near. It was generally more like sailing upon
a river, than upon an arm of the sea. The land was everywhere very
mountainous too, and seemed to rise very abruptly from the water’s
edge, though often it was bordered near the margin of the water, by
villages and towns, and elegant country seats with green fields and
beautiful gardens adjoining them, and parks and pleasure grounds, all
of which presented a succession of most charming pictures to the view.
In other places the shores of the _loch_, as the Scotch call such
sheets of water as these, were wild and solitary,—immense sheep
pastures extending up the mountain sides to a great height, with
flocks of sheep, and dogs, and Highland shepherds seen here and there,
standing motionless to gaze upon the steamer as it glided swiftly by.
As this line of steamers was intended almost exclusively for the
accommodation of tourists, journeying for health or pleasure, the
arrangements on board were all made with reference to rendering
the voyage as comfortable and as agreeable as possible. One of the
arrangements made with this view was to stop at night, half way between
Glasgow and Inverness, at a place situated in the midst of some of the
grandest and most romantic scenery, in order to give the passengers
a quiet night’s sleep, at a spacious and elegant hotel, built there
expressly for the purpose. The steamer was to touch too at a great many
different places along the route, wherever there was a pretty village
on the margin of the water, or any grand or picturesque scenery at a
little distance in the interior. When Mrs. Morelle and her party came
on board, they had not determined whether to proceed directly to
Inverness, or to stop at Rothsay, or Oban, or Fort William, or at some
other interesting point, with a view of continuing their journey on a
subsequent day.
“We will not decide,” said Mrs. Morelle, “until we get on board the
steamer, and see how we like it, and what the weather is.”
When, however, the party had embarked and the voyage was begun, they
were all for the first hour so much interested in the wonderful beauty
and grandeur of the scenery which everywhere met their view, that they
did not think of the question how far they should go, until Grimkie saw
the man coming round among the passengers to receive their money, and
give them tickets. Before he had time to say anything about it, the man
came to where Mrs. Morelle was sitting and said he would take the fare.
“How much is it, sir?” asked Grimkie.
The man replied by asking how far they were going. Grimkie looked to
his aunt, not knowing himself exactly what to say.
“We are going to Inverness,” said she, “but we had not fully decided
whether to go directly through, or to stop somewhere, for a day.”
“You can pay through, madam,” said the man, “and take a ticket, and
then you can break the journey where you please. The tickets are good
for a month.”
“Ah,” said Grimkie, “that will be just the thing for us.” So he took
out his purse and counted out the number of sovereigns which the man
required, and received the tickets.
The tickets were made in a very curious manner. They were printed upon
thin paper, and lined upon the back with green morocco, and were then
folded in three, that is, the upper part was folded down, and the lower
part up, and in this condition they looked like so many little green
wallets. Florence and John were very much interested in examining their
tickets, and they wished to have the custody of them themselves. But
Grimkie said no. He was responsible for all the payments, and he must
take charge of the tickets himself—but they might have them to look at
as often as they pleased.
John was very much taken with the ticket man’s phrase “break the
journey,” and he began to be quite desirous that _their_ journey should
be broken at some point or other along the route. His mother said that
she had no objection to that. So she commissioned Grimkie to look over
the map and the guide books, and read the descriptions of the different
places along the route, and of the objects of interest to be seen in
the vicinity of them, and so select a place where in his opinion it
would be best to stop.
Grimkie immediately set himself to this work, and after a good deal
of patient investigation and research, he came to the conclusion to
recommend that they should stop at Ben Nevis. Ben Nevis, he found, lay
close upon their course.
Ben Nevis has usually been considered as the highest mountain in
Scotland. It is any rate altogether the most celebrated. There is a
little village at the base of it, named Fort William, where travellers
land who wish to ascend the mountain. This village is at the head of a
loch, and all the environs of it are romantic and beautiful. Grimkie
found a picture of Fort William in one of the guide books, and showed
it to his aunt, and to Florence and John. He also read what the guide
book said about the place, and the environs of it, and the mode of
ascending the mountain.
“I have only one objection to stopping there,” said Mrs. Morelle, “and
that is that I do not like climbing mountains very well.”
“But, Auntie,” said Grimkie, “we need not go up the mountain unless we
choose to do it.”
“True,” said Mrs. Morelle, “but I am pretty sure you children will want
to go up, and I shall not like to have you go, unless I go too.”
“Then, Auntie, how would you like to stop at Oban?”
“What is there remarkable at Oban?” asked Mrs. Morelle.
“It is a pretty little town on the western coast, built along the curve
of a bay, under high hills,” said Grimkie, half reading from his guide
book. “It is a sort of central point and rendezvous for travellers
in the western Highlands, being the place of departure for many
excursions.”
“What sort of excursions?” asked Mrs. Morelle.
“The principal are steamboat excursions among the outlying islands,”
said Grimkie, “such as to Fingal’s cave on the island of Staffa, and
the old monastery in Iona.”
“Should we be exposed to the swell of the sea in going to those
islands?” asked Mrs. Morelle.
“I think from the map that we should,” said Grimkie.
“Then,” said Mrs. Morelle, laughing, “I would rather stop at Ben Nevis.
I would rather take the mountain than the sea.”
“I thought so, Auntie,” said Grimkie.
And so it was decided that the party should land at Fort William, at
the base of Ben Nevis.