The consultation was stayed--no one dared answer the old man--when suddenly Giles Sympelton was seen running in haste up the glen. He had brought the carriage as high as it could come, and now flew forward himself to get the invalid transferred to it. Big Duncan lifted the sick lad in his arms, and carried him away, while Giles lingered to deliver Mrs. Catherine's orders. "Let me take the old people with me," he said, eagerly, to Mr. Lumsden. "The carriage is large--the old lady said I was to bring as many as could come. It is Mrs. Catherine Douglas, of the Tower--do not let us lose time, Sir: get the oldest people down to the carriage." The Macalpines did not cheer--they were too grave for that; but the lad's hand was grasped in various honest rough ones, and "blessings on him!" were murmured from many tongues. Three of the most feeble could be accommodated in the carriage--at least, could be crowded beneath its roof, while the sick youth was placed on the cushions, and his mother sat at his feet. "Is there anything more I can do?" said Giles, looking in grief and pity upon the agonized face of the young mother, sitting within the dismantled cottage waiting while her neighbors prepared another hot-bath for her child. "Nothing," said Mr. Lumsden. "I thank you heartily, young gentleman, for what you have already done. You may have saved that poor lad's life by your promptitude. Tell Mrs. Catherine that every arrangement that can possibly be made for the comfort of the Macalpines, I will attend to. Good night--I thank you most sincerely. You will never repent this day's work, I am sure." Giles lingered still. "How is the child? will it die?" he asked anxiously of one of the women. "Bless the innocent, the water's hot this time," was the answer; "it's no moaning sae muckle. Eh, the Lord forbid it should die!" Giles turned and ran down the glen, saw his charge safely deposited in the carriage, and, mounting beside the coachman, drove more leisurely to the Tower. Before they had been very long away, the chaise arrived from Portoran. The infant's sufferings were abated; it had sunk into a troubled, exhausted sleep. Mr. Lumsden filled the chaise immediately with the feebler members of the houseless community. It was arranged that the rest should walk to Portoran--it was twelve miles--a weary length of way, where the minister pledged himself they should find accommodations. Big Duncan and Roderick Macalpine voluntarily remained in the glen, to protect the household goods of their banished people.