Our Fifth And Last Day's Journey Was A Long One Of Forty Miles,
Yet Near Cape Traverse Our Horse Ran Away Down A Steep Hill, And Across A
Long Wooden Bridge Without A Parapet, Thereby Placing Our Lives In
Imminent Jeopardy.
After travelling for several hours we came to a lone
house, where we hoped to get some refreshment both for ourselves and the
horse, but found the house locked, a remarkable fact, as in this island
robbery is almost unknown.
We were quite exhausted with hunger, and our
hearts sank when we found every door and window closed. We then, as an act
of mercy, stole a sheaf of oats from a neighbouring field, and cut the
ears off for the horse with our penknives, after which we, in absolute
hunger, ate as many grains as we could clean from the husks, and some
fern, which we found very bitter. We looked very much like a group of
vagrants sitting by the road-side, the possession of the oats being
disputed with us by five lean pigs. When after another hour we really
succeeded in getting something more suitable for human beings, we ate like
famished creatures.
While I was walking up a long hill, I passed a neat cabin in a garden of
pumpkins, placed in a situation apparently chosen from its extreme
picturesqueness. Seeing an old man, in a suit of grey frieze and a blue
bonnet, standing at the gate, I addressed him with the words, "Cia mar
thasibh an diugh." "Slan gu robh math agaibh.
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