caught a mermaid, secured the
fair one, and conveyed her away to her own people, to whom, of course,
she told her own version of the story. We forget what legal steps were
taken, (a sheriff's warrant probably passed for little in those days, at
least in Mull,) but considerable feudal disorders ensued in consequence,
and the Laird of Duart was eventually assassinated in bed one night, (in
Edinburgh,) by Sir John Campbell of Calder, the brother of the bathed
lady. We hope that this was the means of reconciling all parties."

Next comes, on our right, Ardtornish Castle,

"on her frowning steep,
Twixt cloud and ocean hung,"

the opening scene of Scott's "Lord of the Isles," and the stronghold of
that hero chieftain. It is now, for the most part, in ruins. One old
keep, or tower, still remains standing: the same, perhaps, of which Sir
Walter says,--

"The turret's airy head,
Slender and steep and battled round,
O'erlooked, dark Mull, thy mighty Sound,
Where thwarting tides with mingled roar
Part they swarth hills from Morven's shore."

And if we would form a conception of the inaccessible character of this
and similar ocean-washed fortresses, we have but to recall the poet's
description of the approach to it by Bruce and his companions on the
seaward side:--

"Hewn in the rock, a passage there
Sought the dark fortress by a stair
So straight, so high, so steep,
With peasant's staff one valiant hand
Might well the dizzy pass have manned,
And plunged then in the deep."

Other ancient castles meet our view, both on the right and left, during
the passage of the Sound. None of these rough, but romantic ruins
constitute the present residence of their owners, who could be better
accommodated in the poorest fishing-hut. They serve, however, to give
interest and dignity to the modern residence or miniature village which
nestles demurely under the shelter of their pristine fame. At Tobermory,
or the Well of Mary, the metropolis of Mull, the steamer stops to
deposit and receive passengers,--this, and one or two other pauses for a
similar practical purpose, constituting, in favor of a few chance
travellers, an exception to her otherwise strict character of an
excursion- or pleasure-boat. Indeed, in the eyes of the Islanders, the
services she thus renders may constitute her a business agent, though we
tourists, being so much in the majority, recognize h