They walked down to the water's edge. Little waves rippled at their feet. A seagull called mournfully; in one of the cottages behind them, a woman admonished her child. Then there was silence, the silence of Sutherland, sometimes so complete it hurts modern ears.

Jock heaved a sigh, and then said, "I don't want Ailsa or her friend Holly to be encouraged in this nonsense."

"You'd best tell me what the nonsense is all about, Jock."

"They were out walking along towards the sea."

Hamish looked down at the black loch and then at the steep mountainsides which sloped straight down into the water.

"I've never been along there. I didn't know there was a path."

"You cannae see it from here. It's little more than a rabbit track. Ailsa and Holly went out the other evening. They are both on some exercise regime. They say just up almost at the head of the loch, they saw two great glaring green eyes staring at them out of some huge bulk in the water. It began to move silently towards them and they screamed and ran. Then they worked up all the other women in the village and reported it tae Strathbane police and were told to drink lots of black coffee. The police thought they'd been drinking hooch."

"There's been a lot of Highland drunks recently reporting sightings of UFOs," said Hamish. "It was the bad time to call."

"Anyway, I don't want them encouraged. There's a lot of phosphorescence in that loch and it produces queer effects."

"I'll just take a stroll along there," said Hamish. "We'll let it drop for the moment, Jock, but if anyone else sees anything, there'll have to be a proper investigation."

"Let's hope that'll be an end of it," said Jock. Hamish touched his cap and made his way along the edge of the loch. He found the path at the westward end of the village. As Jock had said, it was little more than a rabbit track. He strolled along. He was glad he had brought his torch, the towering mountains made the blackness of the night even blacker.