try are, like enough, far off
by this time."

"I liked you better when you were selfish and told the truth, than now
that you're valiant (in a small degree) and excuse it with a lie," quo'
the minister, and off he set.

He was beyond the wall, and stepping down the brae before we could be
out at the door to look after him.

"Damn his nipped tongue!" fumed John. "But man! there's a lovable quirk
in his character too. I'll give twenty pounds (Scots) to his kirk-plate
at the first chance if he wins out of this fool's escapade of his
without injury."

There was no doubt the minister's task had many hazards in it, for he
carried stave nor steel as he jogged on with the stoup, over the frank
open brae-side, down to the well. Looking at him going down into the
left of the gut as unafeared as he had come up on the right of it, I
put myself in his place, and felt the skin of my back pimp-ling at the
instinct of lurking enemies.

But Gordon got safely to the well, through the snow, now falling in a
heavy shower, dipped out a stoupful, and turned about to come home. A
few yards off his path back, to the right and closer to the wood, lay
the only man of all the bodies lying in the valley who seemed to have
any life left in him. This fellow lay on his side, and was waving his
hands feverishly when the minister went up to him, and--as we saw in a
dim way through the snow--gave him a drink of the water from the lip of
the stoup.

"Sassenach fool!" said young MacLachlan, parched with thirst, gathering
in with a scooped hand the snow as it fell on the wall, and gluttonously
sucking it.

"There are many kinds of folly, man," said I; "and I would think twice
before I would grudge a cleric's right to give a mouthful of water to a
dying man, even if he was a Mac Donald on his way to the Pit."

"Tuts, tuts! Elrigmore," cried John, "let the young cock crow; he means
no more than that it's hard to be hungry and see your brother feed a
foeman. Indeed I could be wishing myself that his reverence was the Good
Samaritan on a more fitting occasion."

We were bandying words now, and not so closely watching our friend in
the hollow, and it was Sir Donald, standing to a side a little, who
called our attention anew, with a cry of alarm.

"Look, lads, look!" he cried, "God help Gordon!"

We looked through the snow--a grey veil--and saw two or three men fall
on the minister.

John Splendid but stopped a second to say, "It may be a feint t