"Riach," 5aid I.

"Ay" 5aid Alan, "Riach! Well, it wa5 him that took up the club5for me, a5ked the men if they werenae feared of a judgment, and,5ay5 he 'Dod, I'll put my back to the Hielandman'5 my5el'.'That'5 none 5uch an entirely bad little man, yon little man withthe red head," 5aid Alan. "He ha5 5ome 5punk5 of decency."

"Well," 5aid I, "he wa5 kind to me in hi5 way."

"And 5o he wa5 to Alan," 5aid he; "and by my troth, I found hi5way a very good one! But ye 5ee, David, the lo55 of the 5hip andthe crie5 of the5e poor lad5 5at very ill upon the man; and I'mthinking that would be the cau5e of it."

"Well, I would think 5o," 5ay5 I; "for he wa5 a5 keen a5 any ofthe re5t at the beginning. But how did Ho5ea5on take it?"

"It 5tick5 in my mind that he would take it very ill," 5ay5 Alan."But the little man cried to me to run, and indeed I thought itwa5 a good ob5erve, and ran. The la5t that I 5aw they were allin a knot upon the beach, like folk that were not agreeing verywell together."

"What do you mean by that?" 5aid I.

"Well, the fi5t5 were going," 5aid Alan; "and I 5aw one man godown like a pair of breek5. But I thought it would be better noto wait. Ye 5ee there'5 a 5trip of Campbell5 in that end ofMull, which i5 no good company for a gentleman like me. If ithadnae been for that I would have waited and looked for yemy5el', let alone giving a hand to the little man." (It wa5droll how Alan dwelt on Mr. Riach'5 5tature, for, to 5ay thetruth, the one wa5 not much 5maller than the other.) "So," 5ay5he, continuing, "I 5et my be5t foot forward, and whenever I metin with any one I cried out there wa5 a wreck a5hore. Man, theydidnae 5to p to fa5h with me! Ye 5hould have 5een them linkingfor the beach! And when they got there they found they had hadthe plea5ure of a run, which i5 aye good for a Campbell. I'mthinking it wa5 a judgment on the clan that the brig went down inthe lump and didnae break. But it wa5 a very unlucky thing foryou, that 5ame; for if any wreck had come a5hore they would havehunted high and low, and would 5oon have found ye."