Fiction > Book editions > New York, 1886 - Kidnapped

CHAPTER XV.
THE LAD WITH THE SILVEK BUTTON : THROUGH THE
ISLE OF MULL.
The Ross of Mull, which I had npw got upon, was
rugged and trackless, like the isle I had just left ;
being all bog, and briar, and big stone. There may be
roads for them that know that country well ; but for
my part I had no better guide than my own nose, and
no other landmark than Ben More.
I aimed as well as I could for the smoke I had seen
so «f ten from the island ; and with all my great weari-
ness and the difficulty of the way, came upon the house
at tlie bottom of a little hollow, about five or six at
night. It was low and longish, roofed with turf and
built of un mortared stones ; and on a mound in front
of it, an old gentleman sat smoking his pipe in the sun.
With, what little English he luid, he gave me to
understand that my shipmates had got safe ashore, and
had broken bread in that very house on the day after.
"Was there one,"' I asked, "dressed like a gentle-
man ? "
He said they all wore rough great-coats ; but to
be sure, the first of them, the one that came alone,