In which Mr. Jarvie, a shrewd and convivial Glasgow magistrate, imparts to the English visitor a vivid account of the Highland clans’ lawless condition and their complex relationships with commerce and rebellion; with statistician precision and honest plainness, he reveals the consequences of these wild territories on local credit and allegiance, and pledges his personal aid in recovering the narrator’s father’s endangered fortune. Thus prepared by counsel and resolved by friendship, the party makes ready by nightfall for a journey into the uncertain and stirring Highland moors, animated by hope and cautious determination.