"No, no, Davit, Mr. Dishart hadna felt the blow the piper gave him till he ascended the pulpit to conduct the prayer-meeting for rain, and then he fainted awa. Tammas Whamond and Peter Tosh carried him to the Session-house. Ay, an awful scene."
"How did the minister no come to the meeting? I wonder how you could expect it, Snecky, and his mother taen so suddenly ill; he"s at her bedside, but the doctor has little hope."
"This is what has occurred, Tailor: Mr. Dishart never got the length of the pulpit. He fell in a swound on the vestry floor. What caused it? Oh, nothing but the heat. Thrums is so dry that one spark would set it in a blaze."
"I canna get at the richts o" what keeped him frae the meeting, Femie, but it had something to do wi" an Egyptian on the hill. Very like he had been trying to stop the gypsy marriage there. I gaed to the manse to speir at Jean what was wrang, but I"m thinking I telled her mair than she could tell me."
"Man, man, Andrew, the wite o"t lies wi" Peter Tosh. He thocht we was to hae sic a terrible rain that he implored the minister no to pray for it, and so angry was Mr. Dishart that he ordered the whole Session out o" the kirk. I saw them in Couthie"s close, and michty dour they looked."
"Yes, as sure as death, Tammas Whamond locked the kirk-door in Mr.
Dishart"s face."
"I"m a" shaking! And small wonder, Marget, when I"ve heard this minute that Mr. Dishart"s been struck by lichtning while looking for Rob Dow.
He"s no killed, but, woe"s me! they say he"ll never preach again."
"Nothing o" the kind. It was Rob that the lichtning struck dead in the doctor"s machine. The horse wasna touched; it came tearing down the Roods wi" the corpse sitting in the machine like a living man."
"What are you listening to, woman? Is it to a dog barking? I"ve heard it this while, but it"s far awa."
_In the manse kitchen_:
"Jean, did you not hear me ring? I want you to--Why are you staring out at the window, Jean?"
"I--I was just hearkening to the ten o"clock bell, ma"am."
"I never saw you doing nothing before! Put the heater in the fire, Jean. I want to iron the minister"s neckcloths. The prayer-meeting is long in coming out, is it not?"
"The--the drouth, ma"am, has been so cruel hard."
"And, to my shame, I am so comfortable that I almost forgot how others are suffering. But my son never forgets, Jean. You are not crying, are you?"
"No, ma"am."
"Bring the iron to the parlor, then. And if the minis--Why did you start, Jean? I only heard a dog barking."
"I thocht, ma"am--at first I thocht it was Mr. Dishart opening the door. Ay, it"s just a dog; some gypsy dog on the hill, I"m thinking, for sound would carry far the nicht."
"Even you, Jean, are nervous at nights, I see, if there is no man in the house. We shall hear no more distant dogs barking, I warrant, when the minister comes home."
"When he comes home, ma"am."
_On the middle of a hill--a man and a woman_:
"Courage, beloved; we are nearly there."
"But, Gavin, I cannot see the encampment."
"The night is too dark."
"But the gypsy fires?"
"They are in the Toad"s-hole."
"Listen to that dog barking."
"There are several dogs at the encampment, Babbie."
"There is one behind us. See, there it is!"
"I have driven it away, dear. You are trembling."
"What we are doing frightens me, Gavin. It is at your heels again!"
"It seems to know you."
"Oh, Gavin, it is Lord Rintoul"s collie Snap. It will bite you."
"No, I have driven it back again. Probably the earl is following us."
"Gavin, I cannot go on with this."
"Quicker, Babbie."
"Leave me, dear, and save yourself."
"Lean on me, Babbie."
"Oh, Gavin, is there no way but this?"
"No sure way."
"Even though we are married to-night----"
"We shall be married in five minutes, and then, whatever befall, he cannot have you."
"But after?"
"I will take you straight to the manse, to my mother."
"Were it not for that dog, I should think we were alone on the hill."
"But we are not. See, there are the gypsy fires."
_On the west side of the hill--two figures_:
"Tammas, Tammas Whamond, I"ve lost you. Should we gang to the manse down the fields?"