"Ay," he went on, "thae lawlands are very bonny, wi’ the laigh meadows, and bosky trees and waters as still as a mill-pound. And if ye come doun frae the high bare lands ye think them fair like Heev’n. But I canna bide lang there. I aye turn fair sick for the smell o’ moss and heather, and the roarin’ and routin’ o’ the burn, and the air sae clear and snell that it gars your face prick and your legs and airms strauchten oot, till ye think ye could run frae here to the Heads o’ Ayr." "I know all of that," said I, "and more." "Ay, there’s far mair," said he. "There’s the sleepin’ at nicht on the grund wi’ naething abune you but the stars, and waukin’ i’ the mornin’ wi’ the birds singin’ i’ your lug and the wind blawin’ cool and free around you. I ken a’ that and I ken the ither, when the mist crowds low on the tap o’ the hills and the rain dreeps and seeps, or when the snaw comes and drifts sae thick that ye canna stand afore it, and there’s life neither for man nor beast. Yet wi’ it a’ I like it, and if I micht choose the place I wad like best to dee in, it would be in the lee side o’ a muckle hill, wi’ nae death-bed or sic like havers, but juist to gang straucht to my Makker frae the yirth I had aye traivelled on. But wha kens?" and he spurred up his horse. "Nicol," said I, after a long silence, "you know the errand we go on. I have told you it, I think. It is to find my cousin and Mistress Marjory. If God grant that we do so, then these are my orders. You shall take the lady home to Tweeddale, to Dawyck, which is her own, and leave me behind you. I may come back or I may not. If I do, all will be well. If I do not, you know your duty. You have already fulfilled it for some little time; if it happens as I say, you shall continue it to death. The lass will have no other protector than yourself." "E’en as ye say," cried he, resuming his hilarity, though whether it was real or no I cannot tell. "But dinna crack aboot siccan things, Laird, or ye’ll be makkin’ our journey nae better than buryin’. It’s a wanchancy thing to speak aboot death. No that a man should be feared at it, but that he should keep a calm sough till it come. Ye mind the story o’ auld Tam Blacket, the writer at Peebles. Tam was deein’, and as he was a guid auld man the minister, whae was great at death-beds and consolation, cam to speak to him aboot his latter end. ’Ye’re near death, Tammas,’ says he. Up gets auld Tam. ’I’ll thank ye no to mention that subject,’ he says, and never a word wad he allow the puir man to speak."