He was acquainted
with the road every mile, and could tell to an
inch which side of a Highland bridge was passable,
which decidedly dangerous.* In short, Donald
* This is, or was at least, a necessary accomplishment. In
one of the most beautiful districts of the Highlands was, not
many years since, a bridge bearing this startling caution,
``Keep to the right side, the left being dangerous.''
MacLeish was not only our faithful attendant and
steady servant, but our humble and obliging friend;
and though I have known the half-classical cicerone
of Italy, the talkative French valet-de-place, and
even the muleteer of Spain, who piques himself on
being a maize-eater, and whose honour is not to be
questioned without danger, I do not think I have
ever had so sensible and intelligent a guide.
Our motions were of course under Donald's direction;
and it frequently happened, when the weather
was serene, that we preferred halting to rest
his horses even where there was no established
stage, and taking our refreshment under a crag,
from which leaped a waterfall, or beside the verge
of a fountain, enamelled with verdant turf and
wild-flowers. Donald had an eye for such spots,
and though he had, I dare say, never read Gil Blas
or Don Quixote, yet be chose such halting-places
as Le Sage or Cervantes would have described.
Pages:
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216