The qualifications of such a person were necessarily
much superior to those of the ``first ready,''
who gallops thrice-a-day over the same ten miles.
Donald MacLeish, besides being quite alert at repairing
all ordinary accidents to his horses and
carriage, and in making shift to support them,
where forage was scarce, with such substitutes as
bannocks and cakes, was likewise a man of intellectual
resources. He had acquired a general knowledge
of the traditional stories of the country which
he had traversed so often; and, if encouraged, (for
Donald was a man of the most decorous reserve,)
he would willingly point out to you the site of the
principal clan-battles, and recount the most remarkable
legends by which the road, and the objects
which occurred in travelling it, had been distinguished.
There was some originality in the
man's habits of thinking and expressing himself,
his turn for legendary lore strangely contrasting
with a portion of the knowing shrewdness belonging
to his actual occupation, which made his conversation
amuse the way well enough.
Add to this, Donald knew all his peculiar duties
in the country which he traversed so frequently.
He could tell, to a day, when they would ``be killing''
lamb at Tyndrum or Glenuilt; so that the
stranger would have some chance of being fed
like a Christian; and knew to a mile the last village
where it was possible to procure a wheaten
loaf, for the guidance of those who were little familiar
with the Land of Cakes.
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