n and worldliness on the place."

"It's havers ye're talkin', Duncan!" cried old Andrew sharply. "It's
no yer fault! If the careless an' godless willna' listen to the Gospel
ye're no to blame, man!"

"Look you!" cried the old man, pointing down the dim valley with its
twinkling lights. "I will be seeing this day and night, all my life,
and the Lord hath put it into my heart to be a watchman of souls. I
have heard Him say it, 'Son of man, I have set thee a watchman .....
and if the people be not warned, and if the sword come, and take any
person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood
will I require at the watchman's hands!' ..... '_At the watchman's
hands_,' mark you, Andra; and the sword of unrighteousness will be
hanging over my father's Glen, and I will not be keeping my covenant!"

"Duncan!" cried his friend in alarm, "this is not right for you. The
Lord doesna' lay the sins o' ithers on one man's heid. By their own
deeds shall they stand or fall."

Duncan Polite shook his head slowly; he seemed scarcely to hear. "He
would be showing me I was not worthy," he said, in deepest humility.
"For I would not be warning the people as my father would, and I will
be punished for my sin. The blessing will not be coming as in my
father's time; for I will be hearing Him say, 'Bind the sacrifice with
cords even unto the horns of the altar,' and what will it be, Andra,
what will it be? The watchman will be an unfaithful servant. Oh,
wae's me for a worthless vessel!"

Old Andrew's sympathy moved him to rough, quick speech. "Ye're tryin'
to carry the sins o' people who must suffer for their ain, Duncan
McDonald," he said, with a harshness Duncan did not misunderstand.
"It's nane o' your fault, man!"

"It will be my inheritance, Andra," said the other, with quiet but firm
conviction. "I would be hearing it, 'Son of man, I have set thee a
watchman.' It would be a message to me."

There was a long silence, broken only by the distant sounds of the
village. To the matter-of-fact Andrew Johnstone the mystic Highlander
was a puzzle; but his faith and sympathy remained unabated. Duncan had
never fully opened his heart before, and his friend stood awed at the
depths revealed. He had little to say in reply; the elder was a man
whose emotions, except that of righteous indignation, were kept
suppressed. But every word of his old friend sank deep into his heart.
He parted with a word of comfort.