e a yellow hole in the drift,
whenever it threatened to ingulf his beard. Without those three he could
never have got on; but, with all the three, he could never have got out,
if Bat and Maunder of the gill had not come to his succor in the very
nick of time. Not only did they work hard for hours under the guidance
of Saracen (who was ready to fly at them if they left off), but when at
length they came on Jordas, in his last exhaustion, with the good horse
rubbing up his chin to make him warmer, they did a sight of things,
which the good Samaritan, having finer climate, was enabled to dispense
with. And when they had set him on his legs again, finding that he
could not use them yet, they hoisted him on the back of Maunder, who was
strong; and the whole of that expedition ended at the little cottage in
the gill. But the kindness of the inhabitants was only just beginning;
for when Jordas came to himself he found that his off-foot--as Marmaduke
would have called it--the one which had ridden with a northeast aspect,
was frozen as hard as a hammer, and as blue as a pistol barrel. Mrs.
Bart happened to have seen such cases in her native country, and by her
skillful treatment and never-wearying care, the poor fellow's foot was
saved and cured, though at one time he despaired of it. Marmaduke also
was restored, and sent home to his stable some days before his rider was
in a condition to mount him.

In return for all these benefits, how could the dogman, without being
worse than a dog, go and say to his ladies that mischief was breeding
between their heir and a poor girl who lived in a corner of their land?
If he had been ungrateful, or in any way a sneak, he might have found
no trouble in this thing; but being, as he was, an honest, noble-hearted
fellow, he battled severely in his mind to set up the standard of the
proper side to take. For such matters Pet cared not one jot. Crafty as
he was, he could never understand that Jordas and Welldrum were not the
same man, one half working out-of-doors, and the other in. For him it
was enough that Jordas would not tell, probably because he was afraid
to do so, and Pet resolved to make him useful. For Lancelot Carnaby was
very sharp indeed in espying what suited his purpose. His set purpose
was to marry Insie Bart, in whom he had sense enough to perceive his
better, in every respect but money and birth, in which two he was
before her, or at any rate supposed so. He was proud, as need be