"Ah! but, Jessie," I said, suddenly comforting myself with an
excuse for the apparent failure of the charm, "Mr. Drever didna
tell me that the stone would be o' any use against such a beast as
an otter."
"No, I ken that. But did he not say it would protect ye from all
harm? Surely an otter shouldna be left out o' the reckoning."
But here Colin Lothian, to whom the virtues of the viking's
talisman had been explained, suggested that I perhaps needed to
have some secret communication with the stone in my own mind--that
I perhaps needed to think of the charm at the very moment of
danger, and to call upon it for aid. He had heard of such things,
he said.
This explanation appeared to me very reasonable, and with the
suggestion in my mind I determined, should I ever have another
opportunity, to put it in practice.
Such an opportunity presented itself sooner than I could have
expected.
Chapter XVIII. The Wreck Of The "Undine."
Colin Lothian remained at Lyndardy until the following Monday
morning. He slept out in the byre, where such wayfarers as he were
always welcome to a supper and a bed, and in the evenings he would
come in to the kitchen to sit with my uncle and talk over the
affairs of the island, or to read us a chapter out of the well-worn
Testament that he carried with him on his wanderings.
Pages:
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136