Fiction > Book editions > London, 1886 - Kidnapped

36                                      KIDNAPPED.
bleat, flung up his arms, and tumbled to the floor like a
dead man. I was somewhat shocked at this; but I had
myself to look to first of all, and did not hesitate to let
him lie as he had fallen. The keys were hanging in the
cupboard; and it was my design to furnish myself with
arms before my uncle should come again to his senses and
the power of devising evil. In the cupboard were a few
bottles, some apparently of medicine ; a great many bills
and other papers, which I should willingly enough have
rummaged, had I had the time; and a few necessaries,
that were nothing to my purpose. Thence I turned to
the chests. The first was full of meal; the second of
money-bags and papers tied into sheaves; in the third,
with many other things (and these for the most part
clothes) I found a rusty, ugly-looking Highland dirk
without the scabbard. This, then, I concealed inside my
waistcoat, and turned to my uncle.
He lay as he had fallen, all huddled, with one knee
up and one arm sprawling abroad; his face had a strange
colour of blue, and he seemed to have ceased breathing.
Fear came on me that he was dead; then I got water
and dashed it in his face; and with that he seemed to
come a little to himself, working his mouth and flutter-
ing his eyelids. At last he looked up and saw me, and
there came into his eyes a terror that was not of this
world.
"Come, come," said I, "sit up."
"Are ye alive?" he sobbed. "O man, are ye alive?"
"That am I," said I.    "Small thanks to you!"