s wark, but a' wud raither hae ye,
auld freend, wi' me than ony man in the Glen. Ye're no feared tae gie a
hand?"

"Me feared? No, likely. Man, Saunders cam tae me a haflin, and hes been
on Drumsheugh for twenty years, an' though he be a dour chiel, he's a
faithfu' servant as ever lived. It's waesome tae see him lyin' there
moanin' like some dumb animal frae mornin' tae nicht, an' no able tae
answer his ain wife when she speaks.

"Div ye think, Weelum, he hes a chance?"

"That he hes, at ony rate, and it 'ill no be your blame or mine if he
hesna mair."

While he was speaking, MacLure took off his coat and waistcoat and hung
them on the back of the door. Then he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt
and laid bare two arms that were nothing but bone and muscle.

"It gar'd ma very blood rin faster tae the end of ma fingers juist tae
look at him," Drumsheugh expatiated afterwards to Hillocks, "for a' saw
noo that there was tae be a stand-up fecht atween him an' deith for
Saunders, and when a' thocht o' Bell an' her bairns, a' kent wha wud
win.

"'Aff wi' yir coat, Drumsheugh,' said MacLure; 'ye 'ill need tae bend
yir back the nicht; gither a' the pails in the hoose and fill them at
the spring, an' a'll come doon tae help ye wi' the carryin'.'"

It was a wonderful ascent up the steep pathway from the spring to the
cottage on its little knoll, the two men in single file, bareheaded,
silent, solemn, each with a pail of water in either hand, MacLure
limping painfully in front, Drumsheugh blowing behind; and when they
laid down their burden in the sick room, where the bits of furniture had
been put to a side and a large tub held the centre, Drumsheugh looked
curiously at the doctor.

[Illustration.]

"No, a'm no daft; ye needna be feared; but yir tae get yir first lesson
in medicine the nicht, an' if we win the battle ye can set up for yersel
in the Glen.

"There's twa dangers--that Saunders' strength fails, an' that the force
o' the fever grows; and we have juist twa weapons.

"Yon milk on the drawers' head an' the bottle of whisky is tae keep up
the strength, and this cool caller water is tae keep doon the fever.

"We 'ill cast oot the fever by the virtue o' the earth an' the water."

"Div ye mean tae pit Saunders in the tub?"

"Ye hiv it noo, Drumsheugh, and that's hoo a' need yir help."

"Man, Hillocks," Drumsheugh used to moralize, as often as he remembered
that critical night, "it wes humblin' tae see hoo l