Have you one of those rare and valuable curiosities called a spunk, Mr McCaskie ?' He was a merry little grig of a man, and he babbled on, till I announced my intention of going to bed.

If this was Amos's bagman, who had been seen in company with Gresson, I understood how idle may be the suspicions of a clever man.

He had probably foregathered with Gresson on the Skye boat, and wearied that saturnine soul with his cackle.
I was up betimes, paid my bill, ate a breakfast of porridge and fresh haddock, and walked the few hundred yards to the station.

It was a warm, thick morning, with no sun visible, and the Skye hills misty to their base.

The three coaches on the little train were nearly filled when I had bought my ticket, and I selected a third-class smoking carriage which held four soldiers returning from leave.
The train was already moving when a late passenger hurried along the platform and clambered in beside me.