the story, instead of
at the beginning?"

"I am only concerned with the end of the story, although I have
probably been foolish in thinking that I must myself bring you news of
it."

"No honourable action is ever lost," he rejoined; "and, however events
go, I'll always put this to your credit in the account between us."

"Thank you," said I, laconically, and he moved as if my tone had stung
him, which I did not intend, because even in a war parley one may be
correct--courteous.

"What I wished to say," he went on, "is this: isn't there a way out of
our affairs which shall be creditable to you, nay, to us both, and, at
the same time, be in the public interest? Can't this private
relationship into which we have drifted, thanks to circumstances, be so
managed that it shall be fair to you as a soldier of King George, as
well as relieve me from my difficulties?"

"Surely, Jock Farquharson," I protested with warmth, "you forget your
place when you, an outlaw by decree, the doer, by admission, of many
wrongs, presume to make terms with a King's officer, even in his
private capacity."

"Strong words, my young friend," and he laughed in an airy tone that
stung me; "strong words don't belong to youth, but to the years when
the blood grows sour. You say outlaw! Why, yes and no; I am a loyal
subject of the King--the King over the water! You say I'm a cateran!
Well, I do no more than tax my enemies for what I need, and I need
little, holding as I do by the simple life, especially as no other is
open to me."

"This," I said stiffly, "is neither the rendezvous nor the time for
high-flown sentiments, especially if they have no sincerity."

"That," he added, "would be a windy business, and here the die is far
too serious to be played with, anyhow for me. Let us get down to the
humanities, which are the final element in solving a problem or leaving
it unsolved. There need be no personal bitterness between us; merely
we are in antagonism in politics and war, for the two count together
just now."

"You are unusually modest to eliminate yourself like that," I cut in,
thinking of the Black Colonel's record, but only striking his Highland
pride.

"If it so please me," he said almost angrily, "I can afford to be
modest, for I have done things. I come of good blood; I bear a name
which is old among the hills; I have carved my way to a colonelcy under
the Stuart flag, where promotion, like kissing, has often gone by
favour