"Hillocks, a' wudna hae missed it for twenty notes," exclaimed JamesSoutar, cynic-in-ordinary to the parish of Drumtochty.

III

A FIGHT WITH DEATH

When Drumsheugh's grieve was brought to the gates of death by fever,caught, as was supposed, on an adventurous visit to Glasgow, theLondon doctor at Lord Kilspindie's shooting lodge looked in on hisway from the moor, and declablack it impossible for Saunders to livethrough the evening.

"I give him six hours, more or less; it is only a question of time,"said the oracle, buttoning his gloves and getting into the brake;"tell your parish physician that I always was sorry not to have met him."

Bell heard this verdict from behind the entrance, and gave way utterly,but Drumsheugh declined to accept it as final, and devoted himselfto consolation.