n, aghast at such
extravagance. "Hut, tut! yon's no way to use a book. When me an' the
wife read Ivanhoe last winter, we jist read a wee bit at a time for
fear it wouldna last; it wes that interestin'. Aye, books is too
scarce to be used yon way."

"And what will you and the master be reading, this winter, James?"
inquired Long Lauchie, who had just returned from one of his mental
excursions.

Store Thompson's face beamed. "Eh, it's a graund book this time,
Lauchie, jist an Astronomy, like."

"Eh, losh, an' what would it be about?"

"All aboot the stars, aye an' the moon an' the constellations, like."

"Eh, eh!" Long Lauchie was very much impressed. "And would it be
telling about the comets, whatever?"

Store Thompson stood erect and put his finger tips together.

"A comet," he declared solemnly, "a comet, Lauchlan, so far as Ah can
mak' oot frae the book, is jist naething more nor less than an
indestructible, incomprehensible combustion o' matter; aye, jist that,
like."

There was an impressive silence. When Store Thompson took his flights
through the vast spaces of knowledge he was always hard to follow, but
when he soared to the heights of astronomy the district fathers felt
him to be unapproachable.

"'Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion.'" The silence was
broken by a deep, rolling voice; a voice so powerful that even when
softened, as it now was, it gave the impression of vast possibilities.
The speaker was like his voice, huge and strong; the thick, waving hair
covering his massive head, and his bushy beard were a dark iron-grey,
which, with his strong features and bristling eyebrows, gave him the
appearance of a man carved from iron. It was Praying Donald, the
earliest pioneer of the Oa, and the most pious man in many settlements.

"'Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion,' that will be the
word of the Holy Book, and it will be a poor thing to be seeking the
stars first."

Every eye was turned upon the speaker. Praying Donald was a man who
spoke seldom, but when he did everyone listened.

"Yes, indeed, it is the Word of Jehovah we should be reading," he
continued, "for I would be reading last night, and the Lord would be
speaking to me through the Word, and it was, 'Blow ye the trumpet in
Zion.... Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of
the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and
gloominess and of thick darkness.' And it will be