up his knife, which (upon a repetition of his promises) I returned to
him on the morrow.

Two things I saw plain: the first, that I must not build too high on
Andie, who had shrunk against the wall and stood there, as pale as
death, till the affair was over; the second, the strength of my own
position with the Highlanders, who must have received extraordinary
charges to be tender of my safety. But if I thought Andie came not very
well out in courage, I had no fault to find with him upon the account of
gratitude. It was not so much that he troubled me with thanks, as that
his whole mind and manner appeared changed; and as he preserved ever
after a great timidity of our companions, he and I were yet more
constantly together.

FOOTNOTE:

[13] A learned folklorist of my acquaintance hereby identifies Alan's
air. It has been printed (it seems) in Campbell's "Tales of the West
Highlands," vol. ii., p. 91. Upon examination it would really seem
as if Miss Grant's unrhymed doggerel (see Chapter v.) would fit,
with a little humouring, to the notes in question.--R. L. S.

CHAPTER XVI

THE MISSING WITNESS

On the seventeenth, the day I was trysted with the Writer, I had much
rebellion against fate. The thought of him waiting in the "King's Arms,"
and of what he would think, and what he would say, when next we met,
tormented and oppressed me. The truth was unbelievable, so much I had to
grant, and it seemed cruel hard I should be posted as a liar and a
coward, and have never consciously omitted what it was possible that I
should do. I repeated this form of words with a kind of bitter relish,
and re-examined in that light the steps of my behaviour. It seemed I had
behaved to James Stewart as a brother might; all the past was a picture
that I could be proud of, and there was only the present to consider. I
could not swim the sea, nor yet fly in the air, but there was always
Andie. I had done him a service, he liked me; I had a lever there to
work on; if it were just for decency, I must try once more with Andie.

It was late afternoon; there was no sound in all the Bass but the lap
and bubble of a very quiet sea; and my four companions were all crept
apart, the three Macgregors higher on the rock, and Andie with his Bible
to a sunny place among the ruins; there I found him in deep sleep, and,
as soon as he was awake, appealed to him with some fervour of manner and
a good show of argument.

"If I th