Fiction > Book editions > London, 1889 - Master of Ballantrae

THE JOURNEY IN THE WILDERNESS. 317
spirits." But my throat was so dry, and my own wits
so scattered, I could add no more.
" No/'' says my lord, " it's not to be supposed that
he would understand me. Mackellar does, for he kens
all, and has seen him buried before now. This is a very
g'ood servant to me. Sir William, this man Mackellar;
he buried him with his own hands — he and my father —
l)y the light of two siller candlesticks. The other man
is a familiar spirit; he brought him from Coromandel.
I would have told ye this long syne. Sir William, only
it was in the family." These last remarks he made
with a kind of a melancholy composure, and his time of
aberration seemed to pass away. " You can ask your-
self what it all means," he proceeded. " My brother
falls sick, and dies, and is buried, as so they say ; and
all seems very plain. But why did the familiar go
back? I think ye must see for yourself it's a point
that wants some clearing."
"I will be at your service, my lord, in half a minute,"
said Sir William, rising. " Mr. Mackellar, two words
with you ; " and he led me without the camp, the
frost crunching in our steps, the trees standing at our
elbow, hoar with frost, even as on that night in the Long
Shrubbeiy. " Of course, this is midsummer madness,^'
said Sir William, as soon as we were gotten out of
hearing.
" Why, certainly," said I. " The man is mad. I
think that manifest."