ding 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 years of age.

"It wud hae been temptin' Providence tae cross the muir," Whinnie
explained, "and it's a fell stap roond; a' doot we're laist."

"See, Jamie," said Drumsheugh, as he went to the house, "gin there be
ony antern body in sicht afore we begin; we maun mak allooances the day
wi' twa feet o' sna on the grund, tae say naethin' o' drifts."

"There's something at the turnin', an' it's no fouk; it's a machine o'
some kind or ither--maybe a bread cart that's focht its wy up."

"Na, it's no that; there's twa horses, are afore the ither; if it's no a
dogcairt wi' twa m