any true soul a cistern: wherever the water of
life is received, it sinks and softens and hollows, until it
reaches, far down, the springs of life there also, that come
straight from the eternal hills, and thenceforth there is in that
soul a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE SLATE.

From that very next day, then, after he was received into the
cottage on Glashgar, Gibbie, as a matter of course, took upon him
the work his hand could find to do, and Janet averred to her husband
that never had any of her daughters been more useful to her. At the
same time, however, she insisted that Robert should take the boy out
with him. She would not have him do woman's work, especially work
for which she was herself perfectly able. She had not come to her
years, she said, to learn idleset; and the boy would save Robert
many a weary step among the hills.

"He canna speyk to the dog," objected Robert, giving utterance to
the first difficulty that suggested itself.

"The dog canna speyk himsel'," returned Janet, "an' the won'er is he
can un'erstan': wha kens but he may come full nigher ane 'at's
speechless like himsel'! Ye gie the cratur the chance, an' I s'
warran' he'll mak himsel' plain to the dog. Ye jist try 'im. Tell
ye him to tell the dog sae and sae, an' see what 'll come o' 't."

Robert made the experiment, and it proved satisfactory. As soon as
he had received Robert's orders, Gibbie claimed Oscar's attention.
The dog looked up in his face, noted every glance and gesture, and,
partly from sympathetic instinct, that gift lying so near the very
essence of life, partly from observation of the state of affairs in
respect of the sheep, divined with certainty what the duty required
of him was, and was off like a shot.

"The twa dumb craturs un'erstan' ane anither better nor I un'erstan'
aither o' them," said Robert to his wife when they came home.

And now indeed it was a blessed time for Gibbie. It had been
pleasant down in the valley, with the cattle and Donal, and foul
weather sometimes; but now it was the full glow of summer; the sweet
keen air of the mountain bathed him as he ran, entered into him,
filled him with life like the new wine of the kingdom of God, and
the whole world rose in its glory around him. Surely it is not the
outspread sea, however the sight of its storms and its labouring
ships may enhance the sense of safety to the onlooker, but the
outspread l