I A Gossip on a Sutherland Hill-side 253 



but deil a thing could they feel, only when one 

 caught the ither by the pow, and gied him a rug ; 

 'tis a wonder they hadna dirked each other in the 

 dark ! and all the time Chisholm lay along his shelf, 

 and grinned to himself at the clamjamfry they were 

 keeping below him, and he within reach of their 

 hands. Weel, what with ane thing, and what with 

 another, a great fear came on them in the dark cave, 

 and they thought Chisholm must be a warlock, and 

 so they burst out and ran back to Lairg as fast as 

 their feet could carry them. Weel, Chisholm waited 

 till they were all gone, and gloaming was come, and 

 then he slipped down to Lairg, where there was an 

 old woman, his foster-sister's aunt's second cousin, 

 who was married on a Gun, and he said, " Elsie, 

 I'll gie you all the white siller in my pouch," — and 

 they thought more of the white siller then than they 

 do of the red gold now — " if you will do what I 

 wish." " Ay, 'deed will I," said the old carline, 

 blinking her eyes at the siller, " 'deed will I for ane 

 so near akin." " Weel, then, you ken that the Guns 

 are all red-wud at not catching me, and they are all 

 drinking together. Now, when they are fou, slip you 

 down ben the house, and tak' a shoe and a stocking 

 off one, and a shoe and a stocking off another, and put 

 them in a heap in the road just where the sharp 

 stones are, and then come back to me." So the old 

 body went, and she found that they who were not 

 very fou had put off their clothes before they went 

 to bed, so she wan them easily enough ; and they 



