“I thought I had not been out for long; I showed no symptoms of concussion or other ill effects from the blow, save a sore patch on the base of my skull. My captor, a man of few words, responded to my questions, demands and acerbic remarks alike with the all-purpose Scottish noise which can best be rendered phonetically as ‘ Mmmmphm’. Had I been in any doubt as to his nationality, that sound alone would have been sufficient to remove it.”