ing at eight o'clock-that it travelled all nightthat about two o'clock it crossed a wide ferry called the Mickle Ferry-a mile wide-that it arrived at Wick about ten o'clock on the following day, aud that the steamer would arrive from Edinburgh in the course of Friday night, and they would have to go on board early on Saturday morning.

The children were all very much pleased to learn that they were to ride in the stage-coach all night, and even Mrs. Morelle did not object to it on the whole. She concluded, however, not to remain at Inverness, as she had at first intended, but to go directly on as far as Wick. It was on Wednesday, when the party arrived at Inverness, and in order to be in time for the steamer of that week, it would be necessary to leave that very evening, and this she determined to do.

And then," said she, "when we arrive at Wick, in case the weather is favorable we will go on board the steamer and accomplish our voyage. If it is not favorable then we can go into lodgings and spend our week there.".

"Yes, Auntie," said Grimkie, "John and I will like that very much, for then we can see the fishing boats go out and come in. Wick is the greatest place in the world for the herring fishery

The guide book says there are fifteen hundred large fishing boats that belong there."

The plan being thus arranged, Grimkie and John went to the coach to "book" as they called it, for Wick. They were very desirous, of taking outside seats for themselves, and inside seats, which are much dearer, for the two ladies; but Mrs. Morelle was afraid to have the boys sit outside all night, for fear that they might get asleep and fall off. So she requested them to take the four inside seats for the party, promising that if there was room outside, and the coachman had no objection, they should ride there a part of the time.

Accordingly, Grimkie went to the coach office, and took all the four inside seats and paid the fare. The clerk said that the travellers must be at the office, with their luggage at a quarter before eight.

When the two boys returned to the hotel, they found a large open carriage before the door, and Mrs. Morelle and Florence preparing to take a drive around the environs of Inverness to see the scenery. Mrs. Morelle invited the two boys to join the party, which invitation they were of course very ready to accept. Grimkie proposed, too that, in the course of the ride the carriage should stop at the foot of Craig Phadric, and

that they should all go up and see the remains of a vitrified fort that he said existed there.

In furtherance of this suggestion, he opened one of his books and read an account of the vitrified forts.

These forts are objects of great curiosity to tourists and antiquarians. They exist in various parts of the country, and are so ancient that not only all records, but even all traditions of their origin is lost. They are referred to in the very earliest accounts of the country that exist, as ruins and remains exhibiting the same appearance then as they now present, and enveloped in the same mystery in respect to their origin.

There are a great many of these old forts in different parts of the country, and the thing which chiefly characterizes them, and the one from which they derive their name, is that the stones of which the walls are composed instead of being cemented together by mortar, are fused, or vitrified, as if by the action of great heat, into one continuous mass. It is not possible to ascertain the exact nature of this vitrification, for the walls of these forts have nearly disappeared, leaving only long ridges of ruins, covered in the main with earth, and turfed over; and in many cases immense trees are growing upon them. Portions of the old walls, however, appear here

and there above the ground, and by a little digging they may be uncovered at any point along the line, when the stones, melted together, are brought to view.

A great many different suppositions have been advanced by antiquarians to account for the origin of these works. Some suppose that they were erected in times before the use of cement was known, and that the people of those days resorted to this mode of consolidating their masonry, not knowing any other. They think that they laid up the wall first in the usual way, selecting such stones as would vitrify by heat, and then built immense fires against them, and kept up the heat by replenishing the fires continually until the effect was produced.

It has been supposed that in order to concentrate the heat, and economize fuel, the builders were accustomed to build a second wall outside the first, and very near it, leaving only interval enough for the fuel to be laid in.

It must be confessed, however, that some persons who have examined these remains, have suggested that perhaps the vitrification was not produced purposely at all, but was an accidental effect, resulting from the building of great beacon fires on the hills where the forts stand, perhaps long after the forts themselves fell to ruin.

It is a fact that the vitrified forts are generally situated on commanding elevations. It is also a well-known fact that in ancient times it was the universal custom, in all this region, to extend the alarm through the country in case of war, by immense beacon fires built upon the hills; and it has been suggested accordingly, that it might have been in some accidental way like this, and not by any special design and process of art, that the vitrification was produced.

Grimkie had read accounts of these forts in the different books that he had consulted, and was very desirous of visiting one of them. He was influenced in this desire, not only by a wish to see the fort, but he also wished to procure a specimen of the stones fused together to carry home, and add to the museum at the Chateau. And thus it was that he proposed to his aunt, when they were getting into the carriage to go and take their ride, that they should drive first to the foot of Craig Phadric, and so go up and see the fort.

"How high is Craig Phadric ?" asked Mrs. Morelle. "Is it as high as Ben Nevis ?"

"Oh no, Auntie," replied Grimkie. "It is only two or three hundred feet high."

"Because I don't feel quite able to undertake a second Ben Nevis just yet," said Mrs. Morelle