less
easy than he had anticipated.

"Ye'll nae think o' leavin' this hoose the nicht!" the old man
declared, when, after his supper and a pipe, Bonar touched on the
subject.

"It's an impossibeelity for ony mon as disna' ken the hill yon to find
his wye up or doon in siclike weather," Jock added grimly.

Bonar knew how true was Jock's remark. Nevertheless, he felt very
uncomfortable at the prospect of remaining there for the night, as
Davie had proposed. Did they know who he was? It seemed most
unlikely, with the kindness they had shown him! Yet he could not stay,
he told himself, under false pretences.

"It's more than kind of you to treat me like this," he said. "I could
never have expected such a friendly welcome to one who is a perfect
stranger to you all."

"Nae altogither a stranger, whateever," returned Davie--and for a
moment there was ever so slight a suspicion of a twinkle in his kindly
old eyes. "Ye're the new gauger we've haird sae muckle aboot, I'm
thinkin'."

"Quite so," stammered Bonar, rather shamefacedly, "and--it's really
very good of you to show me so much kindness."

"Na, na, sir," said the old man warmly. "I should be wantin' in human
feelin' if I wes to turn a dog oot sic a nicht--still mair a
fellow-creetur. Na, na, sir! Juist ye sit still, and Maggie Jean'll
redd up the bed for ye beyont for y'r nicht's rest!"

So in the smuggler's very house the smuggler's natural enemy was bound
to rest for the night, having been warmed at the smuggler's hearth and
cheered and invigorated by whiskey that had paid no duty!

It was with changed mien that Bonar trod his downward path next morning
under Peter's guidance.

Be sure he lost no time in applying for removal to a new sphere of
labor! Let others tackle Davie Forbes and his sons if they wished; as
for himself, he could never so repay the fearless generosity to which
he owed--as he firmly believed--the saving of his life!

VIII

PHENOMENA

"This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him."
(_"Hamlet" Act I, Sc. 1._)

Strolling across the little stableyard one day to have a look at Tim, our
pony, I heard from the open door of the kitchen Penny's voice, raised in
expostulation.

"_Ghost_, indeed!" And withering scorn was expressed in the very tone of
her ejaculation. "When you're my _h_age you'll have learned to take no
'eed of such nonsense! There's no such a thing; and I'm surprised as a
Catholic girl, bor