The Great Rain 341

A regiment of cavalry began to trouble him.
He heard it advancing from the Spittal, but was
not dismayed, for it was, as yet, far distant. The
horsemen came thundering on, filling the whole
glen of Quharity. Now he knew that they had
been sent out to ride him down. He paused in
dread, until they had swept past him. They
came back to look for him, riding more furiously
than ever, and always missed him, yet his fears
of the next time were not lessened. They were
only the rain.

All through the night the dog followed him.
He would forget it for a time, and then it would
be so close that he could see it dimly. He never
heard it bark, but it snapped at him, and a grin
had become the expression of its face. He stoned
it, he even flung himself at it, he addressed it in
caressing tones, and always with the result that it
disappeared, to come back presently.

He found himself walking in a lake, and now
even the instinct of self-preservation must have
been flickering, for he waded on, rejoicing merely
in getting rid of the dog. Something in the
water rose, and struck him. Instead of stupe-
fying him, the blow brought him to his senses,
and he struggled for his life. The ground slipped
beneath his feet many times, but at last he was
out of the water. That he was out in a flood he
did not realise; yet he now acted like one in full
possession of his faculties. When his feet sank
in water, he drew back; and many times he
sought shelter behind banks and rocks, first test-
ing their firmness with his hands. Once a tor-
rent of stones, earth, and heather carried him