Lochbuy and Sir Allan accompanied us. We were told
much of a war-saddle, on which this reputed Don Quixote used to be
mounted; but we did not see it, for the young laird had applied it to a
less noble purpose, having taken it to Falkirk fair _with a drove of
black cattle._ We bade adieu to Lochbuy, and to our very kind
conductor[920], Sir Allan M'Lean, on the shore of Mull, and then got
into the ferry-boat, the bottom of which was strewed with branches of
trees or bushes, upon which we sat. We had a good day and a fine
passage, and in the evening landed at Oban, where we found a tolerable
inn. After having been so long confined at different times in islands,
from which it was always uncertain when we could get away, it was
comfortable to be now on the mainland, and to know that, if in health,
we might get to any place in Scotland or England in a certain number
of days.
Here we discovered from the conjectures which were formed, that the
people on the main land were entirely ignorant of our motions; for in a
Glasgow newspaper we found a paragraph, which, as it contains a just
and well-turned compliment to my illustrious friend, I shall
here insert:--
'We are well assured that Dr. Johnson is confined by tempestuous weather
to the isle of Sky; it being unsafe to venture, in a small boat, upon
such a stormy surge as is very common there at this time of the year.
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