He looked at me sullenly and spat on the ground. 'Keep your dirty
money,' he said. 'I'll be even with ye yet, my man--you and that
red-headed scab. I'll mind the looks of ye the next time I see ye.'
Gresson was wiping the blood from his cheek with a silk handkerchief.
'I guess I'm in your debt, Mr Brand,' he said. 'You may bet I won't
forget it.'
* * * * *
I returned to an anxious Amos. He heard my story in silence and his
only comment was--'Well done the Fusiliers!'
'It might have been worse, I'll not deny,' he went on. 'Ye've
established some kind of a claim upon Gresson, which may come in handy
. . . Speaking about Gresson, I've news for ye. He's sailing on Friday
as purser in the _Tobermory_. The _Tobermory's_ a boat that wanders
every month up the West Highlands as far as Stornoway. I've arranged
for ye to take a trip on that boat, Mr Brand.'
I nodded. 'How did you find out that?' I asked.
'It took me some finding,' he said dryly, 'but I've ways and means.
Now I'll not trouble ye with advice, for ye ken your job as well as
me. But I'm going north myself the morn to look after some of the
Ross-shire wuds, and I'll be in the way of getting telegrams at the
Kyle. Ye'll keep that in mind. Keep in mind, too, that I'm a great
reader of the _Pilgrim's Progress_ and that I've a cousin of the name
of Ochterlony.'
CHAPTER FIVE
Various Doings in the West
The _Tobermory_ was no ship for passengers.
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