However, there he was. It
remained only to make the best of it, and to be careful not to show that
he suspected anything. Perhaps the man was harmless after all; and, in
any case, it might be just as well to pretend that he was not possessed
of any great knowledge of English. There was nothing to be gained by
talking.
"Have ye not such a thing as a drop of spirits in the house?" inquired
the stranger. "I'm tired with my ride."
Donald "wasna aaltogether sure. Mebbes perhaps there micht pe a wee
drappie left in ta bottle." But there was no dearth of fluid in the
bottle that, with Highland hospitality, he set before the strange man,
along with cheese and oatcake. Donald took a liberal "sup" himself, and
sat down, purposely near the door, just in case of any possible coming
trouble, and out of the corner of his eye he kept a wary gaze on his
uninvited guest, who had also helped himself liberally to the whisky,
and was already making a great onslaught on the cheese and oatcake.
"Aye, capital whisky; cap-i-tal whisky," said the stranger graciously.
"And I daresay there's more where that came from, if the truth were
kenned."
But that was a suggestion which Donald found it convenient to ignore. He
had "ferry little English," he said.
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