s
mouth, which he saluted with a long and hearty kiss, he set the empty
bottle on the earth, dropped his head on his bosom, and seemed to muse
for the purpose of arranging his confused recollections.

"We can abide the issue of his meditations no longer," said Dwining; "he
will be better after he has slept. Up, sir! you have been riding the air
these some hours; try if the water be not an easier mode of conveyance.
Your valours must lend me a hand. I can no more lift this mass than I
could raise in my arms a slaughtered bull."

"Stand upright on thine own feet, Bonthron, now we have placed thee upon
them," said Eviot.

"I cannot," answered the patient. "Every drop of blood tingles in my
veins as if it had pinpoints, and my knees refuse to bear their burden.
What can be the meaning of all this? This is some practice of thine,
thou dog leech!"

"Ay--ay, so it is, honest Bonthron," said Dwining--"a practice thou
shalt thank me for when thou comest to learn it. In the mean while,
stretch down in the stern of that boat, and let me wrap this cloak about
thee."

Assisted into the boat accordingly, Bonthron was deposited there as
conveniently as things admitted of. He answered their attentions with
one or two snorts resembling the grunt of a boar who has got some food
particularly agreeable to him.

"And now, Buncle," said the chirurgeon, "your valiant squireship
knows your charge. You are to carry this lively cargo by the river to
Newburgh, where you are to dispose of him as you wot of; meantime,
here are his shackles and bandages, the marks of his confinement and
liberation. Bind them up together, and fling them into the deepest pool
you pass over; for, found in your possession, they might tell tales
against us all. This low, light breath of wind from the west will permit
you to use a sail as soon as the light comes in and you are tired of
rowing. Your other valiancie, Master Page Eviot, must be content to
return to Perth with me afoot, for here severs our fair company. Take
with thee the lantern, Buncle, for thou wilt require it more than we,
and see thou send me back my flasket."

As the pedestrians returned to Perth, Eviot expressed his belief that
Bonthron's understanding would never recover the shock which terror had
inflicted upon it, and which appeared to him to have disturbed all the
faculties of his mind, and in particular his memory.

"It is not so, an it please your pagehood," said the leech. "Bonthron's