"Mind what ye're baith aboot!" said Jock, pointing to his patient. "Be canny wi' him--be canny--nae preachin' e'enoo, mind, or flytin', or ye'll rue't. Losh, I'll no stan't!"
As the minister entered the room he saw Jock Hall rapidly vanishing like a spectre, as he stole to his den among the straw.
Mr. Porteous stood beside the Sergeant's bed, and Katie said to her husband, bending over him--
"This is the minister, Adam, come tae see you, my bonnie man."
"God bless you and give you his peace!" said Mr. Porteous, in a low voice, drawing near the bed as Katie retired from it.
The Sergeant opened his eyes, and slowly turned his head, breathing hard, and gazing with a vacant stare at his pastor.
"Do you know me, Adam?" asked the minister.
The Sergeant gave the military salute and replied, "We are all ready, Captain! Lead! we follow! and, please God, to victory!"
He was evidently in the "current of the heady fight", and in his delirious dreams fancied that he was once more one of a forlorn hope about to advance to the horrors of the breach of a beleaguered city, or to mount the ladder to scale its walls. Closing his eyes and clasping his hands, he added with a solemn voice, "And now, my God, enable me to do my duty! I put my trust in Thee! If I die, remember my mother. Amen. Advance, men! Up! Steady!"
The minister did not move or speak for a few seconds, and then said, "It is peace, my friend, not war. It is your own minister who is speaking to you."