“‘Can I afford it?’ said his Majesty, that vexed-like, for he was puttin’ aff his coat and rollin’ up his sleeves to start work for the day. “‘There’s nae choice in the maitter,’ said the doctors; ‘we order it.’ “‘But can I afford it?’ again said his Majesty. ‘Ye ken yoursels, doctors, I have had a lot o’ expense lately, wi’ trouble in the hoose, and wi’ the Coronation and aething and another. Could I no’ be doin’ the noo wi’ Setturday-to-Monday trips doon the watter?’ “But no; the doctors said there was naethin’ for him but rest. So his Majesty had to buy a new topcoat and a yachtin’ bunnet, and start oot on the _Victoria and Albert_. “It’s a twa-funnelled boat, but I’m tellt that, bein’ Government built, yin 6’ the funnels has a blaw-doon, and they daurna light the furnace below’t if the win’s no’ in a certain airt. “The yacht made first for the Isle o’ Man, and wasna five meenutes in the place when the great novelist, Hall Corelli or Mary Caine, or whichever it is, was aboard o’ her distributin’ hand-bills advertisin’ the latest novel, and the King took fright, and left the place as soon as he could. “I’m tellin’ ye it’s a gey sair trauchle bein’ a King. The puir sowl thought the Hielan’s wad be a nice quate place where naebody wad bother him, and so he set sail then for Arran. “‘What is that I see afore me?’ said he, comin’ up past Pladda. “The captain put his spy-gless to his e’e, and got as white’s a cloot. “‘It’s your Majesty’s joyous and expectant subjects,’ says he. ‘They’ve sixty-seven Gleska steamers oot yonder waitin’ on us, and every skipper has his hand on the string o’ the steam-hooter.’ “‘My God!’ groaned the puir King, ‘I thought I was sent awa’ here for the guid o’ my health.’ “Before he could say knife, a’ the Gleska steamers and ten thoosan’ wee rowin’-boats were scrapin’ the pent aff the sides o’ the _Victoria and Albert_, and half a million Scottish taxpayers were cheerin’ their beloved Sovereign, Edward VII., every mortal yin o’ them sayin’, ‘Yon’s him yonder!’ and p’intin’ at him. “‘Will I hae to shoogle hands wi’ a’ that crood?’ he asked the captain o’ the _Victoria and Albert_, and was told it wad dae if he jist took aff his kep noo and then. “And so, takin’ aff his kep noo and then, wi’ a’ the Gleska steamers and the ten thoosan’ wee rowin’-boats hingin’ on to the side o’ the yacht, and half a million devoted subjects takin’ turn aboot at keekin’ in through the port-holes to see what he had for dinner, his Majesty sailed into Brodick Bay. “‘The doctors were right,’ says he; ‘efter a’ there’s naething like a rest cure; it’s a mercy we’re a’ spared.’ “The following day his Majesty hunted the deer in Arran. I see frae the papers that he was intelligently and actively assisted in this by the well-known ghillies, Dugald M’Fadyen, Donald Campbell, Sandy M’Neill, and Peter M’Phedran.