He upbraided
Hugh, both with disloyalty and ingratitude; but told the rest, that
he considered them as men deluded and misinformed.
Hugh was sworn
to fidelity, and dismissed with his companions; but he was not
generous enough to be reclaimed by lenity; and finding no longer
any countenance among the gentlemen, endeavoured to execute the
same design by meaner hands. In this practice he was detected,
taken to Macdonald's castle, and imprisoned in the dungeon. When
he was hungry, they let down a plentiful meal of salted meat; and
when, after his repast, he called for drink, conveyed to him a
covered cup, which, when he lifted the lid, he found empty. From
that time they visited him no more, but left him to perish in
solitude and darkness.
We were then told of a cavern by the sea-side, remarkable for the
powerful reverberation of sounds. After dinner we took a boat, to
explore this curious cavity. The boatmen, who seemed to be of a
rank above that of common drudges, inquired who the strangers were,
and being told we came one from Scotland, and the other from
England, asked if the Englishman could recount a long genealogy.
What answer was given them, the conversation being in Erse, I was
not much inclined to examine.
They expected no good event of the voyage; for one of them declared
that he heard the cry of an English ghost. This omen I was not
told till after our return, and therefore cannot claim the dignity
of despising it.
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