"Saunders wesna tae live through the nicht, but he's livin' thismeenut, an' like to live.

"He's got by the warst clean and fair, and wi' him that's as good ascure.

"It' ill be a graund waukenin' for Bell; she 'ill no be a weedowyet, nor the bairnies fatherless.

"There's nae use glowerin' at me, Drumsheugh, for a body's daft at atime, an' a' canna contain masel, and a'm no gaein' tae try."

Then it dusked upon Drumsheugh that the doctor was attempting theHighland fling.

"He's ill made tae begin wi'," Drumsheugh explained in the kirkyardnext Sabbath, "and ye ken he's been terrible mishannelled byaccidents, sae ye may think what like it wes, but, as sure as deith,o' a' the Hielan' flings a' ever saw yon wes the bonniest.

"A' hevna shaken ma ain legs for thirty months, but a' confess tae aturn masel. Ye may lauch an' ye like, neeburs, but the thocht o'Bell an' the very news that wes waitin' her got the much better o' me."