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asked, anx-. iously.

ā€œBut I am, lass,ā€ he answered; and she knew him too well to say more.

So those two went quietly out to save life or lose it, nor counted the cost.

Down a wind-shattered slopeā€”over a spar of iceā€”up an eternal hillā€”a forlorn hope.

In a whirlwind chaos of snow, the tempest storming at them, the white earth lashing them, they fought a good fight. In front, Owd Bob, the snow clogging his shaggy coat, his hair cutting like lashes of steel across eyes, his head lowered as he followed the finger of God; and close behind, James Moore, his back stern against the storm, stalwart still, yet swaying like a tree before the wind.

So they battled through to the brink of the Stony Bottomā€”only to arrive too late.

For, just as the Master peering about him, had caught sight of a shapeless lump lying motionless in front, there loomed across the snow-choked gulf through the white riot of the storm a gigantic figure forging, doggedly forward, his great head down to meet the hurricane. And close behind, buffeted and bruised, stiff and staggering, a little dauntless figure holding stubbornly on, clutching with one hand at the gale; and a shrill voice, whirled away on the trumpet tones of the wind, crying:

ā€œNoo, Wullie, wiā€™ me! Scots whaā€™ hae wiā€™ Wallace bled! Scots wham Bruce has often led! Welcome toā€”!ā€™

Here he is, Wullie!

ā€ā€™ā€”or to victorie !ā€

The brave little voice died away. The quest; was over; the lost sheep found. And the last; James Moore saw of them was the same small, gallant form, half carrying, half dragging the rescued boy out of the Valley of the Shadow and away.

David was none the worse for his adventure, for on reaching home Mā€™Adam produced a. familiar bottle.

ā€œHereā€™s something to warm yer inside, andā€™ā€ ā€”making a feint at the strap on the wailsā€”ā€™ ā€œhereā€™s something to do the same by yerā€”.ā€“ā€” But, Wullie, oot again!ā€

And out they wentā€”unreckoned heroes.

It was but a week later, in the very heart of the bitter time, that there came a day when, from gray dawn to grayer eve, neither James Moore nor Owd Bob stirred out into the wintry white. And the Masterā€™s face was hard and set as it always was in time of trouble.

Outside, the wind screamed down the Dale; while the snow fell relentlessly; softly fingering the windows, blocking the doors, and piling deep against the walls. Inside the house there was a strange quiet; no sound save for hushed voices, and upstairs the shuffling of muffled feet.

Below, all day long, Owd Bob patrolled the passage like some silent, gray spectre.

Once there came a low knocking at the door; and David, his face and hair and cap smothered in the all-pervading white, came in with an eddy of snow. He patted Owd Bob, and moved on tiptoe into the kitchen. To him came Maggie softly, shoes in hand, with white, frightened face. The two whispered anxiously awhile like brother and sister as they were; then the boy crept quietly away; only a little pool of water on the floor and wet, treacherous foot-dabs toward the door testifying to the visitor.

Toward evening the wind died down, but the mourning flakes still fell.

With the darkening of night Owd Bob retreated to the porch and lay down on his blanket. The light from the lamp at the head of the stairs shone through the crack of open door on his dark head and the eyes that never slept.

The hours passed, and the gray knight still kept his vigil. Alone in the darknessā€”alone, it almost seemed, in the houseā€”he watched. His head lay motionless along his paws, but. the steady gray eyes never flinched or drooped.

Time tramped on on leaden foot, and still he waited; and ever the pain of hovering anxiety was stamped deeper in the gray eyes.

At length it grew past bearing; the hollow stillness of the house overcame him. He rose, pushed open the door, and softly pattered across the passage.

At the foot of the stairs he halted, his fore-. paws on the first step, his grave face and pleading eyes uplifted, as though he were praying. The dim light fell on the raised head; and the white escutcheon on his breast shone out like the snow on Salmon.

At length, with a sound like a sob, he dropped to the ground, and stood listening, his tail dropping and head raised. Then he turned and began softly pacing up and down, like some velvet-footed sentinel at the gate of death.

Up and down, up and down, softly as the falling snow, for a weary, weary while.

Again he stopped and stood, listening intently, at the foot of the stairs; and his gray coat quivered as though there were a draught.

Of a sudden, the deathly stillness of the house was broken. Upstairs, feet were running hurriedly. There was a cry, and again silence.

A life was coming in; a life was going out. The minutes passed; hours passed; and, at-the sunless dawn, a life passed.

And all through that night of age-long agony the gray figure stood, still as a statue, at the foot of the stairs. Only, when, with the first chill breath of the morning, a dry, quick-quenched sob of a strong man sorrowing for the helpmeet of a score of years, and a tiny cry of a new-born child wailing because its mother was not, came down to his ears, the Gray Watchman dropped his head upon his bosom, and, with a little whimpering note, crept back to his blanket.

A little later the door above opened, and James Moore tramped down the stairs. He looked taller and gaunter than his wont, but there was no trace of emotion on his face.

At the foot of the stairs Owd Bob stole out to meet him. He came crouching up, head

-and tail down, in a manner no man ever saw before or since. At his masterā€™s feet he stopped

Then, for one short moment, James Mooreā€™s whole face quivered.

ā€œWell, lad,ā€ he said, quite low, and his voice broke; ā€œsheā€™s awaā€™!ā€

That was all; for they were an undemonstrative couple.

Then they turned and went out together into the bleak morning.

Chapter VIII. Mā€™ADAM AND HIS COAT

To David Mā€™Adam. the loss of gentle Elizabeth Moore was as real a grief as to her children. Yet he manfully smothered his own aching heart and devoted himself to comforting the mourners at Kenmuir.

In the days succeeding Mrs. Mooreā€™s death the boy recklessly neglected his duties at the Grange. But little Mā€™Adam forbore to rebuke him. At times, indeed, he essayed to be passively kind. David, however, was too deeply sunk in his great sorrow to note the change.

The day of the funeral came. The earth was throwing off its ice-fetters; and the Dale was lost in a mourning mist.

In the afternoon Mā€™Adam was standing at the window of the kitchen, contemplating the infinite weariness of the scene, when the door of the house opened and shut noiselessly. Red Wull raised himself on to the sill and growled, and David hurried past the window making for Kenmuir. Mā€™Adam watched the passing figure indifferently; then with an angry oath sprang to the window.

ā€œBring me back that coat, ye thief!ā€ he cried, tapping fiercely on the pane. ā€œTaxā€™ it aff at onst, ye muckle gowk, or Iā€™ll come and tear it aff ye. Dā€™ye see him, Wullie? the great coof has ma coatā€”me black coat, new last Michaelmas, and it raininā€™ ā€˜nough to melt it.ā€

He threw the window up with a bang and leaned out.

ā€œBring it back, I tell ye, ondootiful, or Iā€™ll summons ye. Though yeā€™ve no respect for me, ye might have for ma claithes. Yeā€™re too big for yer am boots, let alane ma coat. Dā€™ye think I had it cut for a elephant? Itā€™s burstinā€™, I tell ye. Takā€™ it aff! Fetch it here, or Iā€™ll eā€™en send Wullie to bring it!ā€

David paid no heed except to begin running heavily down the hill. The coat was stretched in wrinkled agony across his back; his big, red wrists protruded like shank-bones from the sleeves; and the little tails flapped wearily in vain attempts to reach the wearerā€™s legs.

Mā€™Adam, bubbling over with indignation, scrambled half through the open window. Then, tickled at the amazing impudence of the thing, he paused, smiled, dropped to the ground again, and watched the uncouth, retreating figure with chuckling amusement.

ā€œDid ye ever see the like oā€™ that, Wullie?ā€ he muttered. ā€œMa puir coatā€”puir wee coatie! it gars me greet to see her in her pain. A manā€™s coat, Wullie, is aften unco smaā€™ for his sonā€™s back; and David there is straininā€™ and stretchinā€™ her nigh to brakinā€™, for aā€™ the world as he does ma forbearance. And whatā€™s he care aboot the one or tā€™ither?ā€”not a finger-flip.ā€

As he stood watching the disappearing figure there began the slow tolling of the minute-bell in the little Dale church. Now near, now far, now loud, now low, its dull chant rang out through the mist like the slow-dropping tears of a mourning world.

Mā€™Adam listened, almost reverently, as the bell tolled on, the only sound in the quiet Dale. Outside, a drizzling rain was falling; the snow dribbled down the hill in muddy tricklets; and trees and roofs and windows dripped.

And still the bell tolled on, calling up relentlessly sad memories of the long ago.

It was on just such another dreary day, in just such another December, and not so many years gone by, that the light had gone forever out of his life.

The whole picture rose as instant to his eyes as if it had been but yesterday. That insistent bell brought the scene surging back to him:the dismal day; the drizzle; the few mourners; little David decked out in black, his fair hair contrasting with his gloomy clothes, his face swollen with weeping; the Dale hushed, it seemed in death, save for the tolling of the bell; and his love had left him and gone to the happy land the hymn-books talk of.

Red Wull, who had been watching him uneasily, now came up and shoved his muzzle into his masterā€™s hand. The cold touch brought the little man back to earth. He shook himself, turned wearily away from the window, and went to the door of the house.

He stood there looking out; and all round him was the eternal drip, drip of the thaw. The wind lulled, and again the minute-bell tolled out clear and inexorable, resolute to recall what was and what had been.

With a choking gasp the little man turned into the house, and ran up the stairs and into his room. He dropped on his knees beside the great chest in the corner, and unlocked the bottom drawer, the key turning noisily in its socket.

In the drawer he searched with feverish fingers, and produced at length a little paper packet wrapped about with a stained yellow ribbon. It was the ribbon she haa used to weave on Sundays into her soft hair.

Inside the packet was a cheap, heart-shaped frame, and in it a photograph.

Up there it was too dark to see. The little man ran down the stairs, Red Wull jostling him as he went, and hurried to the window in the kitchen.

It was a sweet, laughing face that looked up at him from the frame, demure yet arch, shy yet roguishā€”a face to look at and a face to love.

As he looked a wintry smile, wholly tender, half tearful, stole over the little manā€™s face.

ā€œLassie,ā€ he whispered, and his voice was infinitely soft, ā€œitā€™s lang sinā€™ Iā€™ve daured look at ye. But itā€™s no that yeā€™re forgotten, deane.ā€

Then he covered his eyes

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