I was poring over Baddely when Gresson sat down beside me.  He was in a good temper, and disposed to talk, and to my surprise his talk was all about the beauties of the countryside.  There was a kind of apple-green light over everything; the steep heather hills cut into the sky like purple amethysts, while beyond the straits the western ocean stretched its pale molten gold to the sunset.  Gresson waxed lyrical over the scene.  ’This just about puts me right inside, Mr Brand.  I’ve got to get away from that little old town pretty frequent or I begin to moult like a canary.  A man feels a man when he gets to a place that smells as good as this.  Why in hell do we ever get messed up in those stone and lime cages?  I reckon some day I’ll pull my freight for a clean location and settle down there and make little poems.  This place would about content me.  And there’s a spot out in California in the Coast ranges that I’ve been keeping my eye on,’ The odd thing was that I believe he meant it.  His ugly face was lit up with a serious delight.

He told me he had taken this voyage before, so I got out Baddely and asked for advice.  ‘I can’t spend too much time on holidaying,’ I told him, ’and I want to see all the beauty spots.  But the best of them seem to be in the area that this fool British Government won’t let you into without a passport.  I suppose I shall have to leave you at Oban.’

‘Too bad,’ he said sympathetically.  ’Well, they tell me there’s some pretty sights round Oban.’  And he thumbed the guide-book and began to read about Glencoe.

I said that was not my purpose, and pitched him a yarn about Prince Charlie and how my mother’s great-grandfather had played some kind of part in that show.  I told him I wanted to see the place where the Prince landed and where he left for France.  ’So far as I can make out that won’t take me into the passport country, but I’ll have to do a bit of footslogging.  Well, I’m used to padding the hoof.  I must get the captain to put me off in Morvern, and then I can foot it round the top of Lochiel and get back to Oban through Appin.  How’s that for a holiday trek?’

He gave the scheme his approval.  ’But if it was me, Mr Brand, I would have a shot at puzzling your gallant policemen.  You and I don’t take much stock in Governments and their two-cent laws, and it would be a good game to see just how far you could get into the forbidden land.  A man like you could put up a good bluff on those hayseeds.  I don’t mind having a bet . . .’

‘No,’ I said.  ’I’m out for a rest, and not for sport.  If there was anything to be gained I’d undertake to bluff my way to the Orkney Islands.  But it’s a wearing job and I’ve better things to think about.’

’So?  Well, enjoy yourself your own way.  I’ll be sorry when you leave us, for I owe you something for that rough-house, and beside there’s darned little company in the old moss-back captain.’