about two o'clock
I slept soundly till morning ; and , after a breakfast of porridge -- `` Scotland 's halesome food '' -- and learning that the young and beautiful woman , the shepherd 's daughter , was to be married on Saturday eight-days , I bent my way homewards , to hear and bear merited reproof for the anxiety which my absence -LRB- which was , however , luckily attributed to a stolen visit to an aunt -RRB- had occasioned . Saturday eight-days dawned , and by this time I had resumed my fishing preceptor and companion , _ Willie Herdman _ , to accompany me to the mountains , thinking to decoy him , as it were , to the neighbourhood of the wedding , and there to treat him with a view of the happy party and blooming bride . I kept my own secret , and we were within a mile of the sheiling ere I disclosed it . It was then about two o'clock , and , so far as we could guess , precisely the marriage dinner-hour . Willie , who was an old soldier , had no objection to join in the merriment , nor to drink a glass to the future happiness of the young folks . So on we trudged , our lines rolled up , and our fishing-wallet -LRB- for baskets we had none -RRB- properly adjusted . We soon caught the descending stream ; and , at a pretty sharp turning , came all at once within view of the hospitable cottage ; but , to our surprise , there was neither noise nor cavalcade -- all was desolation and silence around .