Then, when wind and tide have been
against me on my return, have I, with my simple sculls
alone, caused my faithful bark to leap through the foaming
brine as though a press of canvass had impelled her on.
Oh, that this spirit of adventure had never grown with
my growth and strengthened with my strength!" sorrowfully
added the warrior, again apostrophising himself: "then
had I never been the wretch I am.
"The wild daring by which my boyhood had been marked was
again powerfully awakened by the bold and romantic scenery
of the Scottish Highlands; and as the regiment was at
that time quartered in a part of these mountainous
districts, where, from the disturbed nature of the times,
society was difficult of attainment, many of the officers
were driven from necessity, as I was from choice, to
indulge in the sports of the chase. On one occasion a
party of four of us set out early in the morning in
pursuit of deer, numbers of which we knew were to be met
with in the mountainous tracts of Bute and Argyleshire.
The course we happened to take lay through a succession
of dark deep glens, and over frowning rocks; the
difficulties of access to which only stirred up my dormant
spirit of enterprise the more.
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