the other twa.

I sat brood--broodin', waiting for aunt and uncle to return. Eatin' and
drinkin', and smokin' (for there was beef an' whisky, and a cold pie o'
auntie's making); but I wadna' change my claes till they should gae wi'
me to the cliff face.

Before the sun was off the sea, I heard a sound of voices outside; and
in a minute I had a hand o' Rab, and a hand o' Maggie and her mither,
an' half-a-dozen o' our fishers round us who'd known me from a laddie;
and then uncle said, "Now let us away to the cliff path before any o'
the rest come back fra the wedding. While they think Rab and Maggie hae
gone off o' the sly, as, indeed, they hae, and are ganging ower to the
island in the new boat to Rab's cottie."

"'Twas gran' o' ye, Rab, and o' ye, too, Maggie, to come to see me on
your weddin'-day," I said. "I'll no forget it when I'm far awa."

"I would ha' been no gran' not to ha' come," said Rab, "to tell our
brither that we stan' against a' that daur accuse him o' wrang. Why
need ye gae, Sandy? Stay and tak' the brunt o't."

"An' for why, Rab? To bring trouble an' cold looks upo' them that I'd
as sune die as cause grief to, an' that when there's no need o' me to
work here. Nae, nae, I'm awa' to sea, Rab; an' when I come hame, only
friends need know who 'tis, except, indeed, I suld find Rory Smith alive
in my travels; and, who knows, but I may find puir David Preece, and get
my necklace back."

"Dinna touch it--dinna touch it!" said Aunt Tibbie, shudderin'.

So we a' went to the cliff, and there, standin' by the stane, in my
withered claes and puckered shoon, and wi' my whitened face an' a', I
told them again; and we men went down to the hole on the cliff side,
while the women sat on the stane above, and we shook hands all round.

That same evening, two boats shot out o' our little bay, the first one a
new craft, Rab's ain, wi' a gran' flag flying, and carrying him an' his
bonnie bride hame. Auntie and Mistress Miller were with us; uncle
sitting by me while I stood at the tiller, and two men forward. Behind
it was a row-boat, wi' a piper at the prow, playin' the bride hame. In
this boat we a' went back to Slievochan, except Rab and Maggie; and once
more I slept in my old room till mornin'; when, wi' a fit-out o' claes,
and some money that I was to repay as soon as I could draw my wages, I
set out for England.

It was when the Polar Expedition of 1827 was getting ready, and I was
one o' them that