I were to offer an opeenion,
it would not be conscientious. For the plain fac' is, Mr. St. Ivy, that
I div not ken. We have had crackit heids--and rowth of them--ere now;
and we have had a broken leg, or maybe twa; and the like of that we
drover bodies make a kind of a practice like to keep among oursel's. But
a corp we have none of us ever had to deal with, and I could set na
leemit to what Gillies micht consider proper in the affair. Forbye that,
he would be in raither a hobble himsel' if he was to gang hame wantin'
Faa. Folk are awfu' throng with their questions, and parteecularly when
they're no' wantit."

"That's a fac'," said Candlish.

I considered this prospect ruefully; and then making the best of it,
"Upon all which accounts," said I, "the best will be to get across the
Border and there separate. If you are troubled, you can very truly put
the blame upon your late companion; and if I am pursued, I must just try
to keep out of the way."

"Mr. St. Ivy," said Sim, with something resembling enthusiasm, "no' a
word mair! I have met in wi' mony kinds o' gentry ere now; I hae seen o'
them that was the tae thing, and I hae seen o' them that was the tither;
but the wale of a gentleman like you I have no' sae very frequently
seen the bate of."

Our night march was accordingly pursued with unremitting diligence. The
stars paled, the east whitened, and we were still, both dogs and men,
toiling after the wearied cattle. Again and again Sim and Candlish
lamented the necessity: it was "fair ruin on the bestial," they
declared; but the thought of a judge and a scaffold hunted them ever
forward. I myself was not so much to be pitied. All that night, and
during the whole of the little that remained before us of our conjunct
journey, I enjoyed a new pleasure, the reward of my prowess, in the now
loosened tongue of Mr. Sim. Candlish was still obdurately taciturn: it
was the man's nature; but Sim, having finally appraised and approved me,
displayed without reticence a rather garrulous habit of mind and a
pretty talent for narration. The pair were old and close companions,
co-existing in these endless moors in a brotherhood of silence such as I
have heard attributed to the trappers of the West. It seems absurd to
mention love in connection with so ugly and snuffy a couple; at least,
their trust was absolute; and they entertained a surprising admiration
for each other's qualities; Candlish exclaiming that Sim was "grand
company