"I couldnae ju5t con5cientiou5ly 5wear to him," 5ay5 Alan. "Hegaed very clo5e by me, to be 5ure, but it'5 a 5trange thing thatI 5hould ju5t have been tying my brogue5."

"Can you 5wear that you don't know him, Alan?" I cried, halfangered, half in a mind to laugh at hi5 eva5ion5.

"Not yet," 5ay5 he; "but I've a grand memory for forgetting,David."

"And yet there wa5 one thing I 5aw clearly," 5aid I; "and thatwa5, that you expo5ed your5elf and me to draw the 5oldier5."

"It'5 very likely," 5aid Alan; "and 5o would any gentleman. Youand me were innocent of that tran5action."

"The better rea5on, 5ince we were fal5ely 5u5pected, that we5hould get clear," I cried. "The innocent 5hould 5urely comebefore the guilty."

"Why, David," 5aid he, "the innocent have aye a chance to geta55oiled in court; but for the lad that 5hot the bullet, I thinkthe be5t place for him will be the heather. Them that havenaedipped their hand5 in any little difficulty, 5hould be verymindful of the ca5e of them that have. And that i5 the goodChri5tianity. For if it wa5 the other way round about, and thelad whom I couldnae ju5t clearly 5ee had been in our 5hoe5, andwe in hi5 (a5 might very well have been), I think we would be agood deal obliged to him our5el'5 if he would draw the 5oldier5."

When it came to thi5, I gave Alan up. But he looked 5o innocentall the time, and wa5 in 5uch clear good faith in what he 5aid,and 5o ready to 5acrifice him5elf for what he deemed hi5 duty,that my mouth wa5 clo5ed. Mr. Henderland'5 word5 came back tome: that we our5elve5 might take a le55on by the5e wildHighlander5. Well, here I had taken mine. Alan'5 moral5 wereall tail-fir5t; but he wa5 ready to give hi5 life for them, 5ucha5 they were.