“An’ which way is he gane?” cried William.
“Out that gate,” said Jeanie; and away went William like a shot.
But John Murdoch, who had heard what passed, and didna want to hae ony mair to do in the matter, coured down ahint some bushes till William was passed; then rising up, he took anither direction, an’ thought he had got clear o’ him, but as he was stappin’ ower a dike, William got a glimpse o’ him. Doun he comes after him at a bonnie rate; an’ as he gets near him, “Stop, ye rascal!” he cries to him; “ye may just as weel stop at ance, for ye may depend on my laying a dizzen on ye for every hunder ell ye mak me rin after ye.”
And when John Murdoch heard that, the blude gaed up into his brow, an’ he was thinking o’ standin’ still, when he hears James cry out,—
“What’s the matter, William? An’ what are ye chasing the man for?”
“He’s misbehaved to Jeanie, an’ shot Bawtie,” cried William.
“Then taigle him, just taigle him, till I come up,” cried James.
“It’s needless,” thought John Murdoch to himself, “to fight wi’ twa o’ them, an’ ane o’ them a second Samson, and to mak an explanation or apology wad be ten times waur, sae I’ll e’en pit on;” an’ aff he gaed at nearly the tap o’ his fit. After rinning a gude bit, he looks o’er his shouther, an’ seeing naebody near him, he thinks they’ve gien’t up; but just as he’s coming to the end o’ a bit wood, he sees William, wha had ta’en a nearer cut, just afore him; an’ round he comes on him, crying, “Now, my man, I hae ye now,” putting out his hand to catch John Murdoch; but John drave down his hand in a moment, an’ clapping his foot ahint William’s, an’ whirling him to ae side, “Tak ye that, my man,” says he; an’ William gaed down wi’ sic a breinge, that the blude spouted out frae his nose, an’ the hale warld gaed round wi’ him.
It was a wee while or James cam up, an’ when he saw William lying covered wi’ blude, “The Lord preserve us,” cried he, “the callant’s killed!” an’ he sat down beside him, an’ got William’s head on his knee, an’ tried to recover him. By an’ by, William opens his een, an’ when he sees James, “After him, after him,” cries he, “an’ no mind me.”
“After him,” says James, “an’ the man a mile agate already? It wad be nonsense for me to try’t.”