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25 - Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty five. In balcu Hitter, at the door of
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  Speaker 1: the first house, we came to Allan knocked, which was
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  Speaker 1: of no very safe enterprise. In such a part of
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  Speaker 1: the Highlands as the Braves of balcu Hitter, no great
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  Speaker 1: clan held rule. There was filled and disputed by small
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  Speaker 1: steps and broken remnants, and what they call chiefless folk,
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  Speaker 1: driven into the wild country about the springs of forth
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  Speaker 1: and teeth by the advance of the Campbells. Here were
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  Speaker 1: Stuarts and mac Larens, which came to the same thing.
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  Speaker 1: For the Maclarens followed Allan's chief in war and made
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  Speaker 1: but one clan with appen. Here too were many of
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  Speaker 1: that old proscribed, nameless, red handed clan of the Macgregors.
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  Speaker 1: They had always been ill considered, and now worse than ever,
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  Speaker 1: having credit with no side or party in the whole
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  Speaker 1: country of Scotland. Their chief, MacGregor of mac Gregor, was
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  Speaker 1: in exile. The more i mediate leader of that part
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  Speaker 1: of them about balcour Hitter, James Moore, rob Roy's eldest son,
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  Speaker 1: lay waiting his trial in Edinburgh Castle. They were in
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  Speaker 1: ill blood with Highlander and lowlander, with the Grahams. The
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  Speaker 1: McLarens and the Stewarts, and Allan, who took up the
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  Speaker 1: quarrel of any friend, however distant, was extremely wishful to
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  Speaker 1: avoid them. Chance served us very well, for it was
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  Speaker 1: a household of McLarens that we found, where Allan was
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  Speaker 1: not only welcome for his name's sake, but known by reputation. Here.
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  Speaker 1: Then I was got to bed without delay, and a
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  Speaker 1: doctor fetched who found me in a sorry plight. But
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  Speaker 1: whether because he was a very good doctor or I
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  Speaker 1: a very young strong man, I lay bedridden for no
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  Speaker 1: more than a week, and before a month I was
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  Speaker 1: able to take the road again with a good heart.
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  Speaker 1: All this time Allan would not leave me, though I
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  Speaker 1: often pressed him, and indeed his full heartiness in staying
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  Speaker 1: was a common subject of outcry with the two or
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  Speaker 1: three friends that were let into the secret. He hid
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  Speaker 1: by day in a hole of the braves under a
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  Speaker 1: little wood, and at night, when the coast was clear,
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  Speaker 1: would come into the house to visit me. I need
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  Speaker 1: not say if I was pleased to see him. Missus
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  Speaker 1: mc laren, our hostess, thought nothing good enough for such
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  Speaker 1: a guest. And as Duncan Dew, which was the name
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  Speaker 1: of Our host had a pair of pipes in his house,
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  Speaker 1: and was much a lover of music. This time of
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  Speaker 1: my recovery was quite a festival, and we commonly turned
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  Speaker 1: night into day. The soldiers let us be, although once
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  Speaker 1: a party of two companies and some dragoons went by
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  Speaker 1: in the bottom of the valley, where I could see
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  Speaker 1: them through the window as I lay in bed. But
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  Speaker 1: was much more astonishing. No magistrate came near me, and
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  Speaker 1: there was no question put of whence I came or
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  Speaker 1: whither I was going. And in that time of excitement,
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  Speaker 1: I was as free of all aquy as though I
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  Speaker 1: had lain in a desert. Yet my presence was known
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  Speaker 1: before I left to all the people in Balco Hitter
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  Speaker 1: and the adjacent parts, many coming about the house on visits,
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  Speaker 1: and these, after the custom of the country, spreading the
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  Speaker 1: news among their neighbors. The bills, too, had now been printed.
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  Speaker 1: There was one pinned near the foot of my bed,
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  Speaker 1: where I could read my own, not very flattering portrait,
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  Speaker 1: and in larger characters, the amount of the blood money
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  Speaker 1: that had been set upon my life, duncan dew, and
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  Speaker 1: the rest that knew that I had come there in
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  Speaker 1: Allan's company could have entertained no doubt of who I was,
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  Speaker 1: and many others must have had their guests, For though
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  Speaker 1: I had changed my clothes, I could not change my
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  Speaker 1: age or person. And Loland boys of eighteen were not
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  Speaker 1: so rife in these parts of the world, and above
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  Speaker 1: all about that time, that they could fail to put
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  Speaker 1: one thing with another and connect me with the bill.
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  Speaker 1: So it was at least other folk keep a secret
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  Speaker 1: among two or three near friends, and somehow it leaks out.
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  Speaker 1: But among these clansmen it is told to a whole
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  Speaker 1: country side, and they will keep it for a century.
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  Speaker 1: There was but one thing happening worth narrating, and that
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  Speaker 1: is the visit I had of Robin Oig, one of
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  Speaker 1: the sons of the notorious Rob Roy. He was sought
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  Speaker 1: upon all sides on a charge of carrying a young
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  Speaker 1: woman from Balfron and marrying her, as was alleged by force.
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  Speaker 1: Yet he stepped about balco hit her like a gentleman
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  Speaker 1: in his own walled policy. It was he who had
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  Speaker 1: shot James mac laren at the plow Stilts, a quarrel
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  Speaker 1: never satisfied. Yet he walked into the house of his
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  Speaker 1: blood enemies, as a writer might into a public inn.
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  Speaker 1: Duncan had time to pass me word of who it was,
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  Speaker 1: and we looked at one another in concern. You should understand.
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  Speaker 1: It was then close upon the time of Allan's coming.
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  Speaker 1: The two were little likely to agree, and yet if
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  Speaker 1: we sent word or sought to make a signal, it
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  Speaker 1: was sure to arouse suspicion in a man under so
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  Speaker 1: dark a cloud as the MacGregor. He came in with
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  Speaker 1: a great show of civility, but like a man among inferiors,
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  Speaker 1: took off his bonnet to missus mc laren, but clapped
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  Speaker 1: it on his head again to speak to Duncan, and,
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  Speaker 1: leaving thus set himself as he would have thought in
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  Speaker 1: a proper light, came to my bedside and bowed. I
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  Speaker 1: am givin to know, Sir, says he that your name
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  Speaker 1: is Balfour. They call me David. Balfour, said I, at
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  Speaker 1: your service, I would give ye my name in return, Sir,
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  Speaker 1: he replied, but it's one somewhat blown upon of late days,
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  Speaker 1: and it'll perhaps suffice if I tell you that I
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  Speaker 1: am own brother to James Maud Drummond or MacGregor, of
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  Speaker 1: whom you will scarce have failed to hear no, sir,
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  Speaker 1: said I a little long armed, nor yet of your
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  Speaker 1: father mac Gregor Campbell. And I sat up and bowed
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  Speaker 1: in bed, for I thought best to compliment him in
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  Speaker 1: case he was proud of having had an outlaw to
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  Speaker 1: his father. He bowed in return. But what I am
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  Speaker 1: about to say, sir, he went on, is this. In
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  Speaker 1: the year forty five, my brother raised a part of
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  Speaker 1: the Gregara and marched six companies to strike a stroke
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  Speaker 1: for the good side. And the surgeon that marched with
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  Speaker 1: our clan and cured my brother's leg when it was
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  Speaker 1: broken in the brush it pressed in pans, was a
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  Speaker 1: gentleman of the same name precisely as yourself. He was
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  Speaker 1: Brother de Balfour of Baith. And if you are in
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  Speaker 1: any reasonable degree of nearness one of that gentleman's skin,
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  Speaker 1: I have come to put myself in my people at
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  Speaker 1: your command. You are to remember that I knew no
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  Speaker 1: more of my descent than any cadger's dog. My uncle,
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  Speaker 1: to be sure, had prayed of some of her high connections,
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  Speaker 1: but nothing to the present purpose. And there was nothing
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  Speaker 1: left me but that bitter disgrace of owning that I
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  Speaker 1: could not tell. Robin told me shortly he was sorry
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  Speaker 1: he had put himself about, turned his back upon me
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  Speaker 1: without a sign of salutation, and as he went towards
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  Speaker 1: the door, I could hear him telling Duncan that I
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  Speaker 1: was only some kinness loon, that he didn't know his
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  Speaker 1: own father. Angry as I was at these words, and
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  Speaker 1: ashamed of my own ignorance, I could scarce keep from
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  Speaker 1: smiling that a man who was under the lash of
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  Speaker 1: the law, and was indeed hanged some three years later,
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  Speaker 1: should be so nice as to the descent of his acquaintances.
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  Speaker 1: Just in the door he met Allan coming in, and
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  Speaker 1: the two drew back and looked at each other like
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  Speaker 1: strange dogs. They were neither of them big men, but
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  Speaker 1: they seemed fairly to swell out with pride. Each wore
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  Speaker 1: a sword, and by a movement of his haunch, thrust
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  Speaker 1: clear the hilt of it, so that it might be
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  Speaker 1: the more readily grabbed asp and the blade drawn. Mister Stuart,
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  Speaker 1: I am thinking, says Robin. Truth, mister mac gregor, it's
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  Speaker 1: not a mean to be ashamed of, answered Allan. I
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  Speaker 1: did not know you were in my country, sir, says Robin.
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  Speaker 1: It sticks in my mind that I am in the
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  Speaker 1: country of my friends. Mac Laurence, says Allan. That's a
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  Speaker 1: kittle point, returned the other. There may be two words
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  Speaker 1: to say to that, but I think I will have
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  Speaker 1: heard that you are mad of your sword. Unless you
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  Speaker 1: were born deaf, mister MacGregor, you would have heard a
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  Speaker 1: great deal more than that, says Allan. I am not
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  Speaker 1: the only man that can draw steel and appen. And
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  Speaker 1: when my kinsman and Captain Ardshield had a talk with
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  Speaker 1: a gentleman of your name not so many years back,
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  Speaker 1: I could never hear that the MacGregor had the best
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  Speaker 1: of it. Do you mean my father, sir, says Robin. Well,
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  Speaker 1: I would no wonder, said Allan. The gentleman I have
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  Speaker 1: in mind, had the ill taste to clap campbell to
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  Speaker 1: his name. My father was an old man, returned Robin.
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  Speaker 1: The match was unequal. You and me would make a
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  Speaker 1: better pyre, Sir, I was thinkin that, said Allan. I
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  Speaker 1: was half out of bed, and Duncan had been hanging
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  Speaker 1: at the elbow of these fighting cocks, ready to intervene
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  Speaker 1: upon the least occasion. But when that word was uttered,
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  Speaker 1: it was a case of now or never, and Duncan,
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  Speaker 1: with something of a white face, to be sure, thrust
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  Speaker 1: himself between gentlemen, said he, I will have been thinking
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  Speaker 1: of a very different matter. Whatever, here are my pipes,
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  Speaker 1: and here are you, two gentlemen, who are both acclaimed pipers.
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  Speaker 1: It's in all dispute which one of you is the best.
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  Speaker 1: He will be a broad chance to settle it, Why, sir,
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  Speaker 1: said Allan, still addressing Robin, from whom indeed he had
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  Speaker 1: not so much as shifted his eyes, nor yet Robin
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  Speaker 1: from him. Why, sir, says Alan, I think I will
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  Speaker 1: have heard some soft of the sort, have ye music?
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  Speaker 1: As folks say? Are ye a bit of a piper?
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  Speaker 1: I can pipe like a mac crimon, cries Robin. And
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  Speaker 1: that is a very bold word, quoth Alan. I have
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  Speaker 1: made bolder words good before now, returned Robin. And that
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  Speaker 1: against better adversaries, it is easy to try, that, says Allan. Duncan.
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  Speaker 1: Dew made haste to bring out a pair of pipes
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  Speaker 1: that was his principal possession, and to set before his
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  Speaker 1: guests a mutton ham and a bottle of that drink
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  Speaker 1: which they call athol bros, which is made of old
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  Speaker 1: whiskey strained honey and sweet green, slowly beaten together in
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  Speaker 1: the right order and proportion. The two enemies were still
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  Speaker 1: on the very breach of a quarrel, but down they sat,
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  Speaker 1: one upon each side of the peat fire. With a
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  Speaker 1: mighty show of politeness, mc laren pressed them to taste
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  Speaker 1: his mutton ham men the wife's bros, reminding them the
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  Speaker 1: wife was out of Athol and had a name far
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  Speaker 1: and wide for her skill in that confection. But Robin
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  Speaker 1: put aside these hospitalities as bad for the breath. I
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  Speaker 1: would have you to remark, sir, said Alan, that I
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  Speaker 1: haven't broken bread for near upon ten hours, which will
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  Speaker 1: be worse for the breath than any bros in Scotland.
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  Speaker 1: I will take no advantages, mister Stewart, replied Robin. Eat
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  Speaker 1: and drink. I'll follow you. He JdE a small portion
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  Speaker 1: of the ham and drank a glass of the bros
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  Speaker 1: to missus mc laren. And then, after a great number
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  Speaker 1: of civilities, Robin took the pipes and played a little
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  Speaker 1: spring in a very ranting manner. Ay you can blow,
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  Speaker 1: said Alan, and taking the instrument from his rival, he
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  Speaker 1: first played the same spring in a manner identical with
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  Speaker 1: Robin's and then wandered into variations, which, as he went
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  Speaker 1: on he decorated with a perfect flight of grace, notes
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  Speaker 1: such as Piper's Love and call the Warblers. I have
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  Speaker 1: been pleased with Robin's playing. Allan's ravished me. That's not
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  Speaker 1: so very bad, mister Stuart said the rival. But you
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  Speaker 1: show a poor device in you warblers. Me, cried Allan,
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  Speaker 1: the blood starting to his face. I give you the lie?
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  Speaker 1: Do you own yourself beaten at the pipes? Then said Robin,
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  Speaker 1: that you seek that changed them for the sword. And
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  Speaker 1: that's very well, said mister mac gregor, returned Alan, and
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  Speaker 1: in the meantime, laying a strong accent on the word,
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  Speaker 1: I take back the lie. I appealed to Duncan. Indeed
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  Speaker 1: you need appeal to nobody, said Robin. You're far better
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  Speaker 1: judge than any mc laren in balk Hitter, for it's
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  Speaker 1: a god's truth that you're a very credible pipe Afore
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  Speaker 1: Stuart and me the pipes. Allan did as he asked,
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  Speaker 1: and Robin proceeded to imitate and correct some part of
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  Speaker 1: Allan's variations, which it seemed that he remembered perfectly. I
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  Speaker 1: ye have music, said Allan gloomily, and now be the
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  Speaker 1: judge yourself, mister Stuart, said Robin, and taking up the
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  Speaker 1: variations from the beginning, he worked them throughout to so
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  Speaker 1: new a purpose, with such ingenuity and sentiment, and with
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  Speaker 1: so odd a fancy, and so quick a knack in
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  Speaker 1: the grace notes that I was amazed to hear him.
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  Speaker 1: As for Allan, his face grew dark and hot, and
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  Speaker 1: he sat and gnawed his fingers like a man under
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  Speaker 1: some deep affront. Enough, he cried, ye can blow the pipes,
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  Speaker 1: make the most of that, and he made as if
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  Speaker 1: to rise, But Robin only held out his hand as
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  Speaker 1: if to ask for silence, and struck into the slow
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  Speaker 1: measure of a pibroch. It was a fine piece of
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  Speaker 1: music in itself, and nobly played, But it seems besides
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  Speaker 1: it was a piece peculiar to the appens Stuarts, and
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  Speaker 1: a chief favored with Allan. The first notes were scarce
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  Speaker 1: out before there came a change in his face. When
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  Speaker 1: the time quickened, he seemed to grow restless in his seat,
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  Speaker 1: And long before that piece was at an end, the
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  Speaker 1: last signs of his anger died from him, and he
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  Speaker 1: had no thought but for the music, Robin oig, he said,
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  Speaker 1: when it was done, ye are a great piper. I
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  Speaker 1: am not fit to blow in the same kingdom with
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  Speaker 1: ye body of me. Ye have more music in your
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  Speaker 1: sporin than I have in my head. And though it
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  Speaker 1: still sticks to my mind that I could maybe show
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  Speaker 1: ye another of it with the cold steel, I warn
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  Speaker 1: you beforehand it'll no be fair. It would go against
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  Speaker 1: my heart to haggle a man that can blow the
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  Speaker 1: pipes as you can. Thereupon that quarrel was made up.
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  Speaker 1: All night long, the broughs was going and the pipes
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  Speaker 1: changing hands, and the day had come pretty bright, and
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: the three men were none the better for what they
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  Speaker 1: had been taking before. Robin as much as thought upon
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  Speaker 1: the road, and doctor