Corporal Lennox was standing near me, indeed so close, that I could not help overhearing what passed between him and one of the quartermasters.
"I say, Peter," quoth the soldier, "did you ever read about the Covenanters?"
"Anan?" quod Peter.
"Have you never read about the Covenanters, my man?"
"Can't say as I have—what ship did they belong to? they must have been brothers, I suppose—stop—eh!—let me think—why I did know one of that name in the water-guard at"——
"Oh man, Peter, you are an unenlightened creature—amaist as much so as the brutes that perish—I hope there may not be much expected o' ye at the great muster, Peter, when the archangel shall be boatswain's mate, and all hands shall be piped to answer for their deeds done in the body—yea, when the grey moss-grown grave-stone shall no longer shield the sinner from the glance of the Almighty—I hae a regard for ye though, notwithstanding—but ye'll forgive me if I say yeer but a puir brute at the best, Peter."
"Why, Master Lennox," retorted Peter, "I have borne more from you, my fine fellow, than I thought I could have done from ere a messmate I have ever had, for you have done me more than one sarvice—but"——
"Service, man—wi' yeer sarvice! will ye neer gie ower miscaaing his Majestie's English? But weel a weel, and it may not be the last I will render ye, so nae mair about it, man; I meant nae offence,—and to say sooth, my mind was away among the hill-folk, the puir persecuted remnant whereof my great-grandfather was an unworthy member; and mony a weary nicht did he skirl up the Psalms on the wet hillside, before he was exalted, with the cauld spongy fog[[1]] for a mattrass, and a damp rash bush for a pillow."
[[1]] Moss.
"Ho, ho!" chuckled Peter at this; "you are always gammoning about old stories, and book-larning; but I have you now, Master Lennox;—your great-grandfather was exalted, was he?—that is hanged, I suppose?"