348 The Little Minister

thew, running towards the shepherd’s house with
ropes in their hands. The house, I thought,
must be in the mist beyond; and then [I sick-
ened, knowing all at once that it should be on
this side of the mist. When I had nerve to look
again, I saw, that though the roof had fallen in,
the shepherd was astride one of the walls, from
which he was dragged presently through the
water by the help of the ropes. I remember
noticing that he returned to his house with the ©
rope still about him, and concluded that he had
gone back to save some of his furniture. I was
wrong, however. ‘There was too much to be
done at the farm to allow this, but Waster Lunny
had consented to Duncan’s forcing his way back
to the shieling to stop the clock. ‘To both men
it seemed horrible to let a clock go on ticking in
a deserted house.

Having seen this rescue accomplished, I was
letting my glass roam in the opposite direction,
when one of its shakes brought into view some-
thing on my own side of the river. I looked at
it long, and saw it move slightly. Was it a
human being? No, it was a dog. No, it was
a dog and something else. I hurried out to see
more clearly, and after a first glance the glass
shook so in my hands that I had to rest it on
the dyke. For a full minute, I daresay, did I
look through the glass without blinking, and then
I needed to look no more. That black patch was,
indeed, Gavin.

He lay quite near the schoolhouse, but I had
to make a circuit of half a mile to reach him. It
was pitiful to see the dog doing its best to come