vals that I was "a queer character of a callant."

"So ye were frich'ened of Sym Fraser?" he asked once.

"In troth was I!" cried I.

"So would I have been, Davie," said he. "And that is indeed a dreidful
man. But it is only proper to give the de'il his due; and I can tell you
he is a most respectable person on the field of war."

"Is he so brave?" I asked.

"Brave!" said he. "He is as brave as my steel sword."

The story of my duel set him beside himself.

"To think of that!" he cried. "I showed ye the trick in Corrynakiegh
too. And three times--three times disarmed! It's a disgrace upon my
character that learned ye! Here, stand up, out with your airn; ye shall
walk no step beyond this place upon the road till ye can do yoursel' and
me mair credit."

"Alan," said I, "this is midsummer madness. Here is no time for fencing
lessons."

"I cannae well say no to that," he admitted. "But three times, man! And
you standing there like a straw bogle and rinning to fetch your ain
sword like a doggie with a pocket-napkin! David, this man Duncansby must
be something altogether by-ordinar! He maun be extraordinar skilly. If I
had the time, I would gang straight back and try a turn at him mysel'.
The man must be a provost."

"You silly fellow," said I, "you forget it was just me."

"Na," said he, "but three times!"

"When ye ken yourself that I am fair incompetent," I cried.

"Well, I never heard tell the equal of it," said he.

"I promise you the one thing, Alan," said I. "The next time that we
forgather, I'll be better learned. You shall not continue to bear the
disgrace of a friend that cannot strike."

"Ay, the next time!" says he. "And when will that be, I would like to
ken?"

"Well, Alan, I have had some thoughts of that, too," said I; "and my
plan is this. It's my opinion to be called an advocate."

"That's but a weary trade, Davie," says Alan, "and rather a blagyard one
forby. Ye would be better in a king's coat than that."

"And no doubt that would be the way to have us meet," cried I. "But as
you'll be in King Lewie's coat, and I'll be in King Geordie's, we'll
have a dainty meeting of it."

"There's some sense in that," he admitted.

"An advocate, then, it'll have to be," I continued, "and I think it a
more suitable trade for a gentleman that was _three times_ disarmed. But
the beauty of the thing is this: that one of the best colleges for that
kind of learning--and the one where my kinsman, Pilrig,