And now Hector began to behave oddly. He threw a stone, which went in front of Ian and Christina. Then he threw another, which went behind them. Then he threw a third, and Christina felt her hat caught by a bit of string. She drew it toward her as fast as numbness would permit, and found at the end a small bottle. She managed to get it uncorked, and put it to Ian's lips. He swallowed a mouthful, and made her take some. Hector stood on one side, the chief on the other, and watched the proceeding. "What would mother say, Alister!" cried Ian across the narrowing water. In the joy of hearing his voice, Alister rushed again into the torrent; and, after a fierce struggle, reached the mound, where he scrambled up, and putting his arms round Ian's legs with a shout, lifted the two at once like a couple of babies. "Come! come, Alister! don't be silly!" said Ian. "Set me down!" "Give me the girl then." "Take her!" Christina turned on him a sorrowful gaze as Alister took her. "I have killed you!" she said. "You have done me the greatest favour," he replied. "What?" she asked. "Accepted help." She burst out crying. She had not shed a tear before. "Get on the top of the wall, Ian, out of the wet," said Alister. "You can't tell what the water may have done to the foundations, Alister! I would rather not break my leg! It is so frozen it would never mend again!" As they talked, the torrent had fallen so much, that Hector of the Stags came wading from the other side. A few minutes more, and Alister carried Christina to Mercy. "Now," he said, setting her down, "you must walk." Ian could not cross without Hector's help; he seemed to have no legs. They set out at once for the cottage. "How will your crops fare, Alister?" asked Ian. "Part will be spoiled," replied the chief; "part not much the worse." The torrent had rushed half-way up the ridge, then swept along the flank of it, and round the end in huge bulk, to the level on the other side. The water lay soaking into the fields. The valley was desolated. What green things had not been uprooted or carried away with the soil, were laid flat. Everywhere was mud, and scattered all over were lumps of turf, with heather, brushwood, and small trees. But it was early in the year, and there was hope!