[Illustration:  LOCH LOMOND FROM INVERSNAID.]

We were in high spirits and inclined to speak to every one we saw, so, when we met a boy, we asked him if he had seen a cow on the road, to which he replied, rather seriously, that he had not.  We thought afterwards that we had laid ourselves open to a reply like that given by the Orkneyman at Stromness, for the loss of a cow in Scotland was looked upon as a very serious matter, but we escaped for a time.  Shortly afterwards, however, we saw a vehicle approaching in the distance labelled “Royal Mail,” and then another vehicle, similarly marked, passed us from the opposite direction, in which we noticed the boy we had just seen.  When the two conveyances met, they stopped and a number of bags were transferred from the one conveyance to the other, so that it was obvious that they were exchanging their sacks of letters.  When we came up to them, the driver of the one that had overtaken us asked if we had lost a cow, and when we answered “No,” he said, “But didn’t you ask the boy there if he had seen one on the road?” When we answered “Yes,” and it was found to be all a joke, there was a general laugh all round, which was joined in heartily by the boy himself, for he had evidently got a ride on the strength of the story of the lost cow.  We observed that the cart that overtook us had two horses, whilst that we met had only one, so we conjectured that our further way would be comparatively level, and this we afterwards found to be correct.  The boy did not altogether miss his opportunity, for when we had reached, as he thought, a safe distance, we heard him shout:  “Ask your mother when you get home if she has seen a cow!”—­but perhaps “two calves” would have been nearer the mark.

We had a lovely two-mile walk between Arrochar and Tarbet, with a magnificent view of Loch Lomond on our way; while before us, across the loch, stood Ben Lomond, a mountain which rises to the height of 3,192 feet above sea-level.

The scene was one that cannot properly be described—­the blue waters, of the loch, with the trees beyond, and behind them this magnificent mountain, its top covered with pure white snow, and the sun shining on all, formed a picture beautiful beyond description, which seemed to lift our hearts and minds from the earth to the blue heavens above, and our thoughts to the great Almighty Who is in all and over all in that “land of pure delight where saints immortal reign.”

[Illustration:  LOCH LOMOND AND THE BEN.]

Our road now skirted the banks of Loch Lomond, the largest fresh-water lake in Scotland or England, being twenty-four miles long and five miles in width at its broadest point, and containing over twenty islands, some of which we saw.  At the hotel where we called for tea it was thus described: