break the journey where you please. The tickets are good for a month."

"Ah," said Grimkie, "that will be just the thing for us.' So he took out his purse and counted cut the number of sovereigns which the man required, and received the tickets.

The tickets were made in a very curious manner. They were printed upon thin paper, and lined upon the back with green morocco, and were then folded in three, that is, the upper part was folded down, and the lower part up, and in this condition they looked like so many little green wallets. Florence and John were very much interested in examining their tickets, and they wished to have the custody of them themselves. But Grimkie said no. He was responsible for all the payments, and he must take charge of the tickets himself-but they might have them to look at as often as they pleased.

John was very much taken with the ticket man's phrase "break the journey," and he began to be quite desirous that their journey should be broken at some point or other along the route. His mother said that she had no objection to that. So she commissioned Grimkie to look over the map and the guide books, and read the descriptions of the different places along the route, and of the objects of interest to be seen in the

vicinity of them, and so select a place where in his opinion it would be best to stop.

Grimkie immediately set himself to this work, and after a good deal of patient investigation and research, he came to the conclusion to recommend that they should stop at Ben Nevis. Ben Nevis, he found, lay close upon their course.

Ben Nevis has usually been considered as the highest mountain in Scotland. It is any rate altogether the most celebrated. There is a little village at the base of it, named Fort William, where travellers land who wish to ascend the mountain. This village is at the head of a loch, and all the environs of it are romantic and beautiful. Grimkie found a picture of Fort William in one of the guide books, and showed it to his aunt, and to Florence and John. He also read what the guide book said about the place, and the environs of it, and the mode of ascending the mountain.

"I have only one objection to stopping there," said Mrs. Morelle, "and that is that I do not like climbing mountains very well."

"But, Auntie," said Grimkie, "we need not go up the mountain unless we choose to do it."

"True," said Mrs. Morelle, "but I am pretty sure you children will want to go up, and I shall not like to have you go, unless I go too."

"Then, Auntie, how would you like to stop at Oban ?"

"What is there remarkable at Oban ?" asked Mrs. Morelle.

"It is a pretty little town on the western coast, built along the curve of a bay, under high hills,” said Grimkie, half reading from his guide book. "It is a sort of central point and rendezvous for travellers in the western Highlands, being the place of departure for many excursions."

"What sort of excursions ?" asked Mrs. Morelle.

"The principal are steamboat excursions among the outlying islands," said Grimkie, "such as to Fingal's cave on the island of Staffa, and the old monastery in Iona."

"Should we be exposed to the swell of the sea in going to those islands ?" asked Mrs. Morelle. "I think from the map that we should," said Grimkie.

"Then," said Mrs. Morelle, laughing, “I would rather stop at Ben Nevis. I would rather take the mountain than the sea."

"I thought so, Auntie," said Grimkie.

And so it was decided that the party should land at Fort William, at the base of Ben Nevis.

CHAPTER XI.

BEN NEVIS.

MRS. MORELLE was charmed with the appear. ance of Ben Nevis and its environs when the steamer drew near. The slopes of the mountain seemed to commence almost at the margin of the water, and they rose in solemn grandeur to a vast height, the portions near the summit being covered with great patches of snow. Lower down, the mountain sides were rounded and smooth, and covered with rich green and brown vegetation, which glowed in the setting sun and seemed as soft as the richest velvet. Along the margin of the water were extended the buildings of the town, with vessels of various size lying at anchor near.

The steamer stopped at some distance from the shore, just as Grimkie and John, who had been forward to see about getting out the trunk, came back to see if Mrs. Morelle and Florence were ready. Mrs. Morelle looked alarmed.

"Why, Grimkie !" said she, "are they going

to land us in a boat. I thought they would go up to the pier. I am afraid to land in a boat."

"Then we can go on," said Grimkie, "to the end of the sail. It is not a great deal farther."

"But I should like to stop and see Ben Nevis too," said Mrs. Morelle hesitating-" if it were not for landing in a boat-going down such a steep and narrow ladder."

"There can't be any real danger, Auntie," said Grimkie," but still we will go on if you prefer. They land by boats at half the places where we stop."

This was very true, and Mrs. Morelle had taken great interest in watching the progress of such landings, several times during the day. It was very curious to see the boat in such cases come out from the land, and lie upon its oars on the water in the track of the steamer, until the steamer came up, and the paddle-wheels were backed. Then the man standing on the guard would throw a rope to the boat, which would be caught by a man at the bows of it, and immediately made fast, by which means the boat would be drawn on through the water, by the steamer which was not yet entirely at rest.

The boat was soon pulled in under the little step-ladder leading from the deck, which had previously been let down, and then the passen