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

THE JOURNEY IN THE WILDERNESS. 331
engaged. For at that first disclosure of the dead man's
eyes, my Lord Durrisdeer fell to the ground^ and when
I raised him up, he was a corpse.
Day came, and still Seeundra could not be persuaded
to desist from his unavailing efforts. Sir William,
leaving a small party under my command, proceeded on
his embassy with the first light ; and still the Indian
rubbed the limbs and breathed in the mouth of the
dead body. You would think such labours might have
vitalised a stone; but, except for that one moment
(which was my lord's death), the black spirit of the
Master held aloof from its discarded clay; and by
about the hour of noon, even the faithful servant
was at length convinced. He took it with unsliaken
quietude.
''Too cold," said he, ''good way in India, no
good here.'" And, asking for some food, which he
ravenously devoured as soon as it was set before him,
he drew near to the fire and took his place at my elbow.
In the same spot, as soon as he had eaten, he stretched
himself out, and fell into a childlike slumber, from
which I must arouse him, some hours afterwards,
to take his part as one of the mourners at the
double funeral. It was the same throughout; he
seemed to have outlived at once and with the same
effort, his grief for his master and his terror of myself
and Mountain.