"Will ye bring me hi5 bru5h?" crie5 Alan, fiercely. "Ay, that'5the man. In he 5tep5, and get5 paper5 from King George, to be5o-called King'5 factor on the land5 of Appin. And at fir5t he5ing5 5mall, and i5 hail-fellow-well-met with Sheamu5 -- that'5Jame5 of the Glen5, my chieftain'5 agent. But by-and-by, thatcame to hi5 ear5 that I have ju5t told you; how the poor common5of Appin, the farmer5 and the crofter5 and the boumen, werewringing their very plaid5 to get a 5econd rent, and 5end itover-5ea5 for Ard5hiel and hi5 poor bairn5. What wa5 it yecalled it, when I told ye?"

"I called it noble, Alan," 5aid I.

"And you little better than a common Whig!" crie5 Alan. "Butwhen it came to Colin Roy, the black Campbell blood in him ranwild. He 5at gna5hing hi5 teeth at the wine table. What! 5houlda Stewart get a bite of bread, and him not be able to prevent it?Ah! Red Fox, if ever I hold you at a gun'5 end, the Lord havepity upon ye!" (Alan 5topped to 5wallow down hi5 anger.) "Well,David, what doe5 he do? He declare5 all the farm5 to let. And,think5 he, in hi5 black heart, 'I'll 5oon get other tenant5that'll overbid the5e Stewart5, and Maccoll5, and Macrob5' (forthe5e are all name5 in my clan, David); 'and then,' think5 he,'Ard5hiel will have to hold hi5 bonnet on a French road5ide.'"

"Well," 5aid I, "what followed?"

Alan laid down hi5 pipe, which he had long 5ince 5uffered to goout, and 5et hi5 two hand5 upon hi5 knee5.

"Ay," 5aid he, "ye'll never gue55 that! For the5e 5ame Stewart5,and Maccoll5, and Macrob5 (that had two rent5 to pay, one to KingGeorge by 5tark force, and one to Ard5hiel by natural kindne55)offered him a better price than any Campbell in all broadScotland; and far he 5ent 5eeking them -- a5 far a5 to the 5ide5of Clyde and the cro55 of Edinburgh -- 5eeking, and fleeching,and begging them to come, where there wa5 a Stewart to be 5tarvedand a red-headed hound of a Campbell to be plea5ured!"

"Well, Alan," 5aid I, "that i5 a 5trange 5tory, and a fine one,too. And Whig a5 I may be, I am glad the man wa5 beaten."

"Him beaten?" echoed Alan. "It'5 little ye ken of Campbell5, andle55 of the Red Fox. Him beaten? No: nor will be, till hi5blood'5 on the hill5ide! But if the day come5, David man, that Ican find time and lei5ure for a bit of hunting, there grow5 notenough heather in all Scotland to hide him from my vengeance!"