He was up and dressed at five o'clock, and took himself to task for sleeping so long; but it was eight before the captain made his appearance, nine when breakfast was served, and eleven when they set out for Argyleshire.
The two succeeding days were spent in fly-fishing and "fagging after grouse," as the captain termed it.
Although our hero was not much of a fly-fisher, he was an adept at shooting on the wing, and his companions were loud in their praises of the clean and handsome manner in which he cut down his birds.
He made the acquaintance of a good many gentlemen, some of whom were old East Indian soldiers and sportsmen, and acquainted in America as well as at the Cape, and from them he received letters which proved to be of the greatest assistance to him.
Oscar thoroughly enjoyed himself during his short sojourn among the highlands, for the company into which he was thrown was most agreeable, the shooting excellent, the game being strictly preserved, and he would have been glad to remain longer, but duty called him, and he was obliged to heed the call.
On the Thursday following his arrival at the lodge he took leave of his kind hostess, and in company with the captain, who took as much interest in the matter as he would if he had been going to Africa himself, set out for London, where he spent two very busy weeks in purchasing an outfit.
The captain proved to be an invaluable assistant, and although Oscar could not see the use of half the articles he selected for him, he afterward found that there was not a single useless thing in the whole collection.
Some idea of the size of his outfit and of the money he must have spent during those two weeks may be gained when we say that he had, among a good many other heavy and bulky things, fifteen thousand rounds of ammunition—seventy-five pounds of powder, three hundred pounds of lead and as many of shot of different sizes—and that, when the outfit was boxed and ready for shipment, it weighed over eight thousand pounds.
Having secured his berth and ticket and taken a receipt from the purser, showing that his goods had been safely stowed away on board the steamer that was to take them to the Cape, Oscar took the next day to look about the city.