sheugh.

"Div ye mean they're here, whar are they?"

"Drying themsels at the fire, an' no withoot need; ane of them gied
ower the head in a drift, and his neeburs hed tae pu' him oot.

"It took them a gude fower oors tae get across, an' it wes coorse wark;
they likit him weel doon that wy, an', Jamie, man"--here Drumsheugh's
voice changed its note, and his public manner disappeared--"what div ye
think o' this? every man o' them has on his blacks."

"It's mair than cud be expeckit" said Jamie; "but whar dae yon men come
frae, Drumsheugh?"

Two men in plaids were descending the hill behind the doctor's cottage,
taking three feet at a stride, and carrying long staffs in their hands.

"They're Glen Urtach men, Jamie, for are o' them wes at Kildrummie fair
wi' sheep, but hoo they've wun doon passes me."

"It canna be, Drumsheugh," said Jamie, greatly excited. "Glen Urtach's
steikit up wi' sna like a locked door.

[Illustration: "TWO MEN IN PLAIDS WERE DESCENDING THE HILL"]

"Ye're no surely frae the Glen, lads?" as the men leaped the dyke and
crossed to the back door, the snow falling from their plaids as they
walked.

"We're that an' nae mistak, but a' thocht we wud be lickit ae place, eh,
Charlie? a'm no sae weel acquant wi' the hill on this side, an' there
wes some kittle (hazardous) drifts."

"It wes grand o' ye tae mak the attempt," said Drumsheugh, "an' a'm gled
ye're safe."

"He cam through as bad himsel' tae help ma wife," was Charlie's reply.

"They're three mair Urtach shepherds 'ill come in by sune; they're frae
Upper Urtach an' we saw them fording the river; ma certes it took them
a' their time, for it wes up tae their waists and rinnin' like a mill
lade, but they jined hands and cam ower fine." And the Urtach men went
in to the fire. The Glen began to arrive in twos and threes, and Jamie,
from a point of vantage at the gate, and under an appearance of utter
indifference, checked his roll till even he was satisfied.

[Illustration]

"Weelum MacLure 'ill hae the beerial he deserves in spite o' sna and
drifts; it passes a' tae see hoo they've githered frae far an' near.

"A'm thinkin' ye can colleck them for the minister noo, Drumsheugh.
A'body's here except the heich Glen, an' we mauna luke for them."

"Dinna be sae sure o' that, Jamie. Yon's terrible like them on the road,
wi' Whinnie at their head;" and so it was, twelve in all, only old Adam
Ross absent, detained by force, being eighty-two y