About five in the
evening
He felt lighter , younger , than on the idyllic previous day . He enjoyed the buffets of the storm , and one wet mile succeeded another to the accompaniment of Dickson 's shouts and laughter . There was no one abroad that afternoon , so he could talk aloud to himself and repeat his favourite poems . About five in the evening there presented himself at the Black Bull Inn at Kirkmichael a soaked , disreputable , but most cheerful traveller . Now the Black Bull at Kirkmichael is one of the few very good inns left in the world . It is an old place and an hospitable , for it has been for generations a haunt of anglers , who above all other men understand comfort . There are always bright fires there , and hot water , and old soft leather armchairs , and an aroma of good food and good tobacco , and giant trout in glass cases , and pictures of Captain Barclay of Urie walking to London , and Mr. Ramsay of Barnton winning a horse-race , and the three-volume edition of the Waverley Novels with many volumes missing , and indeed all those things which an inn should have .