A War Office clerk was riding outside the Oban coach from Inverary.  A fellow-passenger at his side remarked, “What a glorious view! what a lovely scene!” to which the young gentleman of the War Office, with a strong glance at the speaker, replied, “Sir, I don’t know you; we have not been introduced.”

It was a fine afternoon, and Inverary town looked at its best and quite pleasant in the sunshine, for most of the houses were coloured white.  We halted awhile at the picturesque sculptured cross, where many a weary pilgrim had rested before us, with a glorious view over Loch Fyne and the mountains beyond.  The church stood at the end of the street, and the “Argyll Arms Hotel” would have been a fine place to stay at for the night.  There was also quite a large temperance hotel where carriages could be hired; but we had only walked about sixteen miles, so we had to resist these attractions and walk on to Cairndow, a further distance of ten miles.

[Illustration:  INVERARY CROSS]

Loch Fyne, along the edge of which our road ran all the way to Cairndow, is tidal and about two miles wide at Inverary.  We were now on the opposite side of the castle grounds, and could see another entrance gate, which had been decorated for the royal wedding.  Fine woods bounded our road on the left until we reached the round hill of Duniquaich, where it turned rather abruptly until at Strone Point it was nearly opposite Inverary.  From this place we had a magnificent view of the district we had just passed through; the splendid castle with its grey walls and the lofty tower on the wooded hill adjoining it contrasted finely with the whitened houses of the town of Inverary, as it stood in the light of the setting sun.  We journeyed on alongside the loch, when as the shades of evening were coming on we met a young man and a young woman apparently in great distress.  They told us they had crossed the loch in a small boat to look for ferns, and as the tide was going out had thought they might safely leave their boat on the side of the loch, but when they returned they could not find it anywhere.  They seemed to have been equally unsuccessful with regard to the ferns, as we could not see any in their possession, but we guessed they had other interests, so we went to their assistance and soon found the boat, which doubtless was in the place where they had left it.  The tide must have receded farther than they had anticipated, and they had looked for it too near the water.  We assisted them to launch the boat, and when they were safely seated the young woman, who had looked far more alarmed than her companion, smiled upon us sweetly.  In response to their looks and words of thanks we wished them a pleasant and safe journey; but we never saw any ferns!  Our conversation as we resumed our walk was largely upon this adventure, and we wondered if the ferns could not have been found as easily on the other side of the loch as on this—­but