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Having thoroughly overrun the woods and lawns of Inverary, we had a game of chess, and went to bed pretty well tired. The next morning, before breakfast, I went off in a boat to Ardkinglass to see my little cousins; and then returning about twelve, we got a post-chaise, and crossing the boastful Loch Awe in a ferry-boat, reached Oban at nightfall.
From here we ran due west to Oban, and for twenty miles of the distance the road was the worst we saw in Scotland, being rough and covered with loose, sharp stones that were ruinous to tires. It ran through a bleak, unattractive country almost devoid of habitations and with little sign of life excepting the flocks of sheep grazing on the short grasses that covered the steep, stony hillsides.
'I could keep ye on board for the whole voyage, he went on, 'but ye wouldna be permitted to land. If ye're seekin' enjoyment, it would be a poor job sittin' on this deck and admirin' the works o' God and no allowed to step on the pier-head. Ye should have applied to the military gentlemen in Glesca. But ye've plenty o' time to make up your mind afore we get to Oban.
We had made a stop in the town two years before, and yet there are few places in Britain that we would rather visit a third time than Oban. The north of Scotland is rapidly becoming little more than a pleasure-ground for the people of the Kingdom, and its attractions are yearly drawing a larger number of Americans.
Derwentwater. I take lessons from Mr. J. P. Pettitt. Ulleswater. My horse Turf. Greenock, a discovery. My unsettled cousin. Glasgow. Loch Lomond. Inverary. Loch Awe. Inishail. Innistrynich. Oban. A sailing excursion. Mull and Ulva. Solitary reading. The question of a profession now required an immediate decision.
M'Dougall, a sturdy Scotsman, native of Oban, must have been sorely tempted to 'put the kettle off the boil' and run her under sail. But either the port or starboard engine, or both, worked her the whole way over, and thus for ever established her claim to priority in transatlantic navigation under steam alone.
I was beginning to think that Amos might be able to tell me something, for a talk with the captain had suggested that the Tobermory would not dally long in the neighbourhood of Rum and Eigg. The big droving season was scarcely on yet, and sheep for the Oban market would be lifted on the return journey.
They would find Oban a very nice place at which to break the journey to London, but as for Greenock, Mackenzie could find no words with which to describe Greenock. And then, in the midst of all this, Sheila suddenly said, "Papa, when does the steamer leave?" "In a few minutes. They have got nearly all the cargo on board." "Will you do me a great favor, papa?" "Ay, but what is it, Sheila?"
Oban is modern, a place of many and excellent hotels fronting on the bay. So far, only a small per cent of its visitors are Americans, and the indifferent roads leading to the town discourage the motorist. Had we adhered to the route outlined for us by the Motor Union Secretary, we should have missed it altogether.
"The first of your questions," he said, "you will find out if you can, and the second you cannot find out if you will." And he was gone, striding past me in the deep heather. "I have some business with your uncle, of a pressing nature," he called back. "I will just take a look through Oban, the night and the morn's morn." I was utterly at sea about the big Highlander.
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