) I'm no' dealing wi' yoursel'; nor
yet I amna goin' to," he added.

"Well, Andie, I see I'll have to speak out plain with you," I replied.
And I told him so much as I thought needful of the facts.

He heard me out with serious interest, and when I had done, seemed to
consider a little with himself.

"Shaws," said he at last, "I'll deal with the naked hand. It's a queer
tale, and no' very creditable, the way you tell it; and I'm far frae
minting that is other than the way that ye believe it. As for yoursel',
ye seem to me rather a dacent-like young man. But me, that's aulder and
mair judeecious, see perhaps a wee bit further forrit in the job than
what ye can dae. And here is the maitter clear and plain to ye.
There'll be nae skaith to yoursel' if I keep ye here; far frae that, I
think ye'll be a hantle better by it. There'll be nae skaith to the
kintry--just ae mair Hielantman hangit--Gude kens, a guid riddance! On
the ither hand, it would be considerable skaith to me if I would let you
free. Sae, speakin' as a guid Whig, an honest freen' to you, and an
anxious freen' to my ainsel', the plain fact is that I think ye'll just
have to bide here wi' Andie an' the solans."

"Andie," said I, laying my hand upon his knee, "this Hielantman's
innocent."

"Ay, it's a peety about that," said he. "But ye see, in this warld, the
way God made it, we canna just get a'thing that we want."

CHAPTER XV

BLACK ANDIE'S TALE OF TOD LAPRAIK

I have yet said little of the Highlanders. They were all three of the
followers of James More, which bound the accusation very tight about
their master's neck. All understood a word or two of English; but Neil
was the only one who judged he had enough of it for general converse, in
which (when once he got embarked) his company was often tempted to the
contrary opinion. They were tractable, simple creatures; showed much
more courtesy than might have been expected from their raggedness and
their uncouth appearance, and fell spontaneously to be like three
servants for Andie and myself.

Dwelling in that isolated place, in the old falling ruins of a prison,
and among endless strange sounds of the sea and the sea-birds, I thought
I perceived in them early the effects of superstitious fear. When there
was nothing doing they would either lie and sleep, for which their
appetite appeared insatiable, or Neil would entertain the others with
stories which seemed always of a terrifying strain. If