Ossian Collection > Waifs and strays of Celtic tradition > Volume 1

34 Craignish Tales.
primitive, evening meal A wether was hastily
killed, cut up, and placed in a large pot of water
over the fire. McLarty then took a seat at the fire
and began to relate his adventures to his family
and friends. While he was thus engaged, a
shoulder of mutton sprang out of the pot on to
the floor. " Put it in the pot again," said
McLarty. The order was at once obeyed ; a
second time the shoulder bounded on to the
hearth. It was once more returned to the pot.
But when it leaped out a third time the whole
incident, simple enough in itself, was regarded
as an omen of serious import.
McLarty divined its meaning, and at once
acted on the supposed warning. He rose from
his seat, and having taken down his bow and
quiver from the wall, from which they were sus-
pended, walked out into the darkness. He then
looked in every direction, but saw nothing to
alarm him. Still dissatisfied, he left the neigh-
bourhood of the house, and made a wide circuit to
the western point of the bay, where he concealed
himself in a "leab' fholluich" (hiding-bed) among
the rocks. From this spot he surveyed first the
mouth of the loch, then the bay, and, last of all,
the Islaymen's Rock, just under him. There he
saw a galley moored, but abandoned by its
crew. Suspecting that the crew landed with no