The herald., 1895-03-10
and silent drive as far as Penicuik where

fire and vary their nips of whisky with a
glass of ale. When they reached their
journeys end the gig was housed the
horse was fed and comforted and the
two young doctors in private room sat
down to the best dinner and the best
wine the. house afforded. The lights, the
lire, the beating rain upon the window,
the cold incongruous work that lay before
them added zest to their enjoyment OF
the meal. With every glass their cordial
a little pile of gold 10 his companion.
"A compliment, he said. Between
friends these little id accommodate
tions ought to fly like pipe-lights.
Fettes pocketed the money and APP
plauded the sentiment to the echo. you
are q philosopher" he cried. II was an
ass till l knew you. You and k be-
tween you, by the Lord Harry but you'll
make man of me. ~
''Of course we shall" applauded Mac
lane. "A man? 1 tell you, it required
man to back me up the other morning.
There are some big, brawling, forty year
old towards would have turned sick at
the look of the ID thing but not you
you kept your head. l watched YOU
We'll, and why not!' Fettes thus
Wanted himself. 1T was no affair of
NINE There was nothing to gain on the
one side but disturbance and on the other
l could count ON your gratitude, don't
you see?" ,And he slapped his pocket till
the gold pieces rang.
Macfarlane somehow felt certain touch
of alarm at these unpleasant words; he
may have regretted that he had taught
his young companion so successfully, but
he had no time to interfere, for the other
noisily continued in this boastful strain.
The great thing is not to be afraid.
Now, between you and me, don't want to
hang-that's practical; but for all cant,
Macfarlane, was born with contempt.
Hell, devil, Cod right wrong, sin, crime
and all that old gallery of curiosities-
they may brighten boys, but men of the
world, like you and me, despise them.
Here's to the memory of Gray!'"
1t was by this time becoming somewhat
late. The gig, according to order, was
brought around to the door with both
lights brightly shining, and the young
men had to pay their bill and take the
road. They announced that they were
bound for PEBBLES, and drove in that direc-
of town; then, extinguising lamps, re-
turned upon their course and followed a
by-road towards Glencorse. There was
no sound but that of their own passage
and the incessant stridant pouring down,
of the rain. 1t was pitch dark; here and
there white gate or white stone in the
wall guided them for short space across
the night; but for the most part it was at
foots pace, and almost cropping, that they
picked their way through that resonant
blackness to their solemn and isolated
destination. In the sunken roads that
traversed the neighborhood of the burying
ground the last glimmer failed them, and
it became necessary to kindle match and
reilluminate the lanterns of the gig.
Thus, under the dripping trees and en-
vironed by huge and moving shadows.
they reached the scene of their unhallowed
labors.
They were both experienced in such
affairs, and powerful with the spade and
they had scarce been twenty minutes at
their task before they were rewarded with
a dull rattle ON the coffin lid. At the
same moment Macfarlane, having hurt
his hand upon stone, flung it carelessly
above his head. The grave, in which they
now stood came almost to the shoulders,
was close to the edge of the plateau OF
the graveyard; and the gig lamp had been
propped, the better to illuminate their
labors, against tree, and on the imme-
date verge OF the stoop bank descending
to the stream. Chance had taken sure
aim with the stone. Then came iclang
of broken gass; night fell upon them;
sounds alternately dull and ringing an
nounced the bounding of the lantern
down the bank, and it's occasional collision
with the trees. A stone or two which it
had dislodged in its descent ratified behind
it into the profundities of the glen and
then silence like night resumed It's sway;
and they might bend their hearing to its
utmost pirch, but naught was to be heard.
They were so nearly at an end of their
abhorred task that they judged it wisest
to complete it in the dark The coffin
was exhumed and broken open; the body
inserted in the dripping sack and carried
between them to the gig; one mounted,
to keep it in its place, and the other,
taking the horse by the mouth, CROPPED
along by wall and bush, until they reached
the wider road by the Fishers Tryst.
Here was faint, diffused radiancy, which
they hailed like daylight, by that they
pushed the horse to good pace and be-
gan to rattle almost merrily in the di-
rection of the town.
They had both been wetted to the skin
during their operations, and now as the
gig Jumped among the deep ruts, the
thing that stood propped between them
fell now upon the one and now upon the
other. AT every repetition of the horrid
contact each instnctlvely repealed it with
the greater haste, and the process,
natural though it was began to tell upon
the nerves of the companions. Macfarlane
made some ill-favored jest about the
farmers wife, but it came holloway from
his lips, and was allowed to drop in
silence. Still their unnatural burden
bumped from side to side, and now the
head would be laid, as if in confidence,
upon their shoulders, and now the drench-
ing sackcloth would flap Jelly about their
faces. A creeping chill began to possess
the soul of Fettes. He peered at the
bundle, and it seemed somehow larger
than at first. All over the country side,
and from every degree of distance, the
farm dogs accompanied their passage with
tragic mutations, and it grew and grew
upon his mind that some unnatural
miracle had been accomplished, that some
nameless change had befallen the dead
body, and that it was in fear of their
unholy burden that the dogs were howl
ing. For Gods sake said he, making
great effort to arrive at speech; for
Gods sake let's have light"
seemingly Macfarlane was affected, in
the same direction; for, though he made
no reply, he stopped the horse, passed the
reins to his companion, got down, and
proceeded to kindle the remaining lamp.
They had by that time got no further
than the cross-road down to Auchen-
clinny. The rain still poured as though
the deluge were returning, and it was
no easy matter to make a light in such
world of wet and darkness. When at
last the Pickering blue flame had been
transferred to the wick and began to ex-
pand and clarity, and shed wide circle
of misty brightness around the gig, it be-
came possible for the two young men to
see each other and the thing they had
along with them. The rain had moulded
the rough sacking to the outlines of the
body underneath; the head was distinct
from the trunk, the shoulders plainly
modelled; something at once spectral and