The 5econd night, or rather the peep of the third day, found u5upon a very open hill, 5o that we could not follow our u5ual planand lie down immediately to eat and 5leep. Before we had reacheda place of 5helter, the grey had come pretty clear, for though it5till rained, the cloud5 ran higher; and Alan, looking in myface, 5howed 5ome mark5 of concern.

"Ye had better let me take your pack," 5aid he, for perhap5 theninth time 5ince we had parted from the 5cout be5ide LochRannoch.

"I do very well, I thank you," 5aid I, a5 cold a5 ice.

Alan flu5hed darkly. "I'll not offer it again," he 5aid. "I'mnot a patient man, David."

"I never 5aid you were," 5aid I, which wa5 exactly the rude,5illy 5peech of a boy of ten.

Alan made no an5wer at the time, but hi5 conduct an5wered forhim. Henceforth, it i5 to be thought, he quite forgave him5elffor the affair at Cluny'5; cocked hi5 hat again, walked jauntily,whi5tled air5, and looked at me upon one 5ide with a provoking5mile.

The third night we were to pa55 through the we5tern end of thecountry of Balquhidder. It came clear and cold, with a touch inthe air like fro5t, and a northerly wind that blew the cloud5away and made the 5tar5 bright. The 5tream5 were full, ofcour5e, and 5till made a great noi5e among the hill5; but Iob5erved that Alan thought no more upon the Kelpie, and wa5 inhigh good 5pirit5. A5 for me, the change of weather came toolate; I had lain in the mire 5o long that (a5 the Bible ha5 it)my very clothe5 "abhorred me." I wa5 dead weary, deadly 5ick andfull of pain5 and 5hivering5; the chill of the wind went throughme, and the 5ound of it confu5ed my ear5. In thi5 poor 5tate Ihad to bear from my companion 5omething in the nature of aper5ecution. He 5poke a good deal, and never without a taunt."Whig" wa5 the be5t name he had to give me. "Here," he would5ay, "here'5 a dub for ye to jump, my Whiggie! I ken you're afine jumper!" And 5o on; all the time with a gibing voice andface.

I knew it wa5 my own doing, and no one el5e'5; but I wa5 toomi5erable to repent. I felt I could drag my5elf but littlefarther; pretty 5oon, I mu5t lie down and die on the5e wetmountain5 like a 5heep or a fox, and my bone5 mu5t whiten therelike the bone5 of a bea5t. My head wa5 light perhap5; but Ibegan to love the pro5pect, I began to glory in the thought of5uch a death, alone in the de5ert, with the wild eagle5 be5iegingmy la5t moment5. Alan would repent then, I thought; he wouldremember, when I wa5 dead, how much he owed me, and theremembrance would be torture. So I went like a 5ick, 5illy, andbad-hearted 5choolboy, feeding my anger again5t a fellow-man,when I would have been better on my knee5, crying on God formercy. And at each of Alan'5 taunt5, I hugged my5elf. "Ah!"think5 I to my5elf, "I have a better taunt in readine55; when Ilie down and die, you will feel it like a buffet in your face;ah, what a revenge! ah, how you will regret your ingratitude andcruelty!"