hy was it, Alan, that I could not help giving an involuntary shudder at
receiving an invitation so seasonable in itself, and so suitable to my
naturally inquisitive disposition? I easily suppressed this untimely
sensation; and as I returned thanks, and expressed my hope that I should
not disarrange, his family, I once more dropped a hint of my desire to
make compensation for any trouble I might occasion. The man answered
very coldly, 'Your presence will no doubt give me trouble, sir, but it
is of a kind which your purse, cannot compensate; in a word, although
I am content to receive you as my guest, I am no publican to call a
reckoning.'

I begged his pardon, and, at his instance, once more seated myself
behind hint upon the good horse, which went forth steady as before--the
moon, whenever she could penetrate the clouds, throwing the huge shadow
of the animal, with its double burden, on the wild and bare ground over
which we passed.

Thou mayst laugh till thou lettest the letter fall, if thou wilt, but
it reminded me of the magician Atlantes on his hippogriff with a knight
trussed up behind him, in the manner Ariosto has depicted that matter.
Thou art I know, matter-of-fact enough to affect contempt of that
fascinating and delicious poem; but think not that, to conform with
thy bad taste, I shall forbear any suitable illustration which now or
hereafter may occur to me.

On we went, the sky blackening around us, and the wind beginning to pipe
such a wild and melancholy tune as best suited the hollow sounds of the
advancing tide, which I could hear at a distance, like the roar of some
immense monster defrauded of its prey.

At length, our course was crossed by a deep dell or dingle, such as they
call in some parts of Scotland a den, and in others a cleuch or narrow
glen. It seemed, by the broken glances which the moon continued to
throw upon it, to be steep, precipitous, and full of trees, which are,
generally speaking, rather scarce upon these shores. The descent by
which we plunged into this dell was both steep and rugged, with two
or three abrupt turnings; but neither danger nor darkness impeded the
motion of the black horse, who seemed rather to slide upon his haunches,
than to gallop down the pass, throwing me again on the shoulders of the
athletic rider, who, sustaining no inconvenience by the circumstance,
continued to press the horse forward with his heel, steadily supporting
him at the same time by raising hi