Breakfast is over--a Highland breakfast. Full justice has been done to
the pleasant porridge and warm creamy milk, the fresh herrings that
were alive in Loch Fyne a few hours ago, salmon from the splash-nets at
Eriska, fragrant coffee, excellent home-made scones, and rich butter,
tasting of the clover-field. The day is superb, and no one will spend
more of it indoors than he can help; besides, the boat will be almost
afloat now, and it will take a little time to bale her out. Bring the
lines, then, with their gaudy red and yellow flies--it may be that
a mackerel or two are to be caught in the loch; a novel of William
Black’s, “The Princess of Thule” or “MacLeod of Dare,” and a pocketful
of good cigars. It is hardly nine o’clock, yet the sun is dazzling
and hot in the doorway. There is just enough air moving to bring up
the fresh smell of the seaweed stirred by the rising tide. The white
sandy road is almost dry again after the rain which has fallen in the
night, and as the kine, after their morning milking, are turned into
the clover-field alongside, the foremost will hardly move from the gate
to allow the others to enter, but bury their muzzles at once in the
fresh, wet grass. The sea lies flashing and sparkling in the morning
sunshine, and, on the dark Kingairloch mountains opposite, here and
there the silver streak of a torrent still shows the effects of the
morning shower. A sunny quiet fills the air. The faint screaming and
splashing of gulls and sea-swallows far out over some shoal of fishes,
and the sound of the oars in the rowlocks of the distant boat, can be
distinctly heard, while the leisurely movements of the horse and cart
going down the road a quarter of a mile away are quite distinguishable.
The driver is whistling pleasantly; the tune is “Mo nighean donn
bhoidheach.” The last mists are leaving the mountain sides, and
everything promises a hot day. Even the soft white clouds far up in the
sky are every moment growing fainter, and already the thin shimmer of
heat is ascending from the dry-stone dyke beside the road. The brambles
on the other side of the dry, grassy ditch show profuse clusters
of bright red fruit, but there are no ripe berries to be seen--the
children pluck them long before they are black. The scarlet hips, too,
shine bravely on the sprays of hedgebrier, the tips of whose leaves
are just beginning to turn brown. A small blue butterfly flickers
across the road, and, rising at the dyke, is lost in a moment against
the blue of the sky; while a silent humble-bee comes by, alights on
the last empty bell of a seeded foxglove, and immediately tumbles out
again disgusted, to continue his researches farther on. Over the hedge
there, on the other side of the road, the oats seem yellow enough to
cut, and among them are still in flower a few yellow Marguerites. The
hill beyond glows purple yet with the heather, although its full bloom
is past. Here and there plants of it are flowering close to the dyke
by the roadside. It is the small sort, the kind the bees frequent, for
they can get into it--the bell heather flowers earlier, and is over now.
But here is our boat. She is already afloat, the mainsail and jib are
soon hoisted, there is just enough wind to carry her against the tide,
and Appin and Castle Stalker, the ruined stronghold of the Stewarts
of Appin, are slowly hidden by the point behind. On the right is the
green island of Lismore, low lying and fertile, with few houses visible
upon it; only the slate roof of Lady Elphinstone’s lodge flashes in the
sunlight like a crystal. And beyond and above tower the dark mountains
of Morven. To the south, in the offing, lie the islands of Easdale and
Luing, famous for their slates.
Down we drift, past the Black Isle, to the narrows of Eriska. The
tide is still running in towards Loch Creran, and the passage, which
otherwise would have been difficult among the eddies and currents,
is easily and quickly made. An immense volume of water must pour to
and fro through that narrow channel to fill the loch at every tide.
At these times the current rushes like a mill-race. We are inside
presently, and as the air is very warm, and a pleasant little bay with
a sandy beach lies close at hand on Eriska, there could be no better
opportunity for a bathe.
No sooner said than done. The boat is anchored a little way from the
beach, where through the clear green water the sandy bottom can be
seen some few fathoms below, and one after another enjoys a header
from the bow, or slips gently over the stern. Pleasant as Arcady and
utterly secluded is the spot; not even the crack of a gamekeeper’s
fowling-piece is to be heard on shore.
But what is this--that jig-jig-jigging of engines? A small steam yacht
is coming into the loch, and--gracious goodness! there are ladies on
board. To cover, all three, behind the boat, hang on by the gunwale,
and trust in Providence to keep the yacht at a respectable distance.
One has no ambition at such moments to court the suffrages even of the
most delectable society. But the danger moves past, and though the fair
ones on deck do smile at the phenomenal movements of our boat, and the
ominous absence of occupants, who is a whit the worse? They will laugh
with us, rather than at us, should we meet.
The breeze has freshened a little now, and will be enough to carry
us up the loch amongst the currents and against the outflowing tide.
Yonder goes the ferry-boat, crossing from Shian. It has a waggonette
and horses on board, and the sweeps carry it over but slowly. The long
low island there, with its few stunted bushes, is seldom visited,
and remains a favourite haunt of the graceful sea-swallows. Two
months ago every grassy ledge upon its sides would have its couple of
sea-swallow’s eggs. See yonder, just beyond the rocky point, swimming
quietly about, with watchful, intelligent eyes, there is the black head
of a seal.
As the boat gets round the end of Craigailleach, the ruin of the
ancient castle of Barcaldine, on the low neck of land across which
the road winds from Connal, comes into sight. In the days of which
Sir Walter Scott speaks in his “Lord of the Isles,” when against the
Bruce in Artornish Castle “Barcaldine’s arm was high in air,” there
was scantier cultivation around the site of that black stronghold. The
shrub ivy was not waving then from its beacon turret, and the retainers
whose thatched cottages are still scattered among the fields around
were rather caterans and pirates than peaceful crofters. Now, however,
as Mr William Freeland puts it--
The freebooters, reiving and killing,
No longer swoop down from their glens,
But delve by the bothie and shieling,
Or shepherd their flocks on the bens.
The mountains in front seem to rise higher as we approach, and to cast
a deeper silence on the narrowing water and motionless woods at their
base. Barcaldine House, as secluded and delightful a spot as any in the
Highlands, with its old-fashioned gardens and vineries, lies hidden
among these woods.
Far up on the purple hillside at the head of the loch the eye can make
out a lonely burying-place. A stone dyke guards the little enclosure
of quiet graves. The spot is visible for many a mile around, and its
presence ever in sight must have a tender and solemn effect in keeping
alive the memory of the dead. Every day, as the crofter toils in his
little field, or the shepherd takes the hill with his dogs, his eyes
will turn to it, and he will think of wife or child who lie in that
still, peaceful place, asleep under the calm sunshine and among the
heather. Only sometimes will it be hidden--when the soft, white,
trailing mists come down and weep their gentle tears upon the spot.
Directly in front, away beyond and above the other mountains, towers
Ben Cruachan, a monarch among the peers. And below, on the shore of the
loch, appears the long, low-roofed cottage, half covered a month ago
with crimson tropeolum, and half smothered among its roses, where lives
the author of the humorous and valuable “Notes from Benderloch.” Here
is our destination. Let down the mainsail, let go the jib, and we will
run ashore. It is not yet noon, and there are many hours before us to
spend in the beautiful Barcaldine woods.