IN   BALQUIDDER.                                251
Chance served us very well; for it was a household
of Maclarens that we found, where Alan was not only
welcome for his name's sake but known by reputation.
Here then I was got to bed without delay, and a
doctor fetched, who found me in a sorry plight. But
whether because he was a very good doctor, or I a very
young, strong man, I lay bed-ridden for no more than a
week, and before a month I was able to take the road
again with a good heart.
All this time Alan would not leave me; though I
often pressed him, and indeed his foolhardiness in
staying was a common subject of outcry with the two
or three friends that were let into the secret. He hid
by day in a hole of the braes under a little wood; and
at night when the coast was clear, would come into the
house to visit me. I need not say if I was pleased to
see him; Mrs. Maclaren, our hostess, thought nothing
good enough for such a guest; and as Duncan Dhu
(which was the name of our host) had a pair of pipes in
his house and was much of a lover of music, the time
of my recovery was quite a festival, and we commonly
turned night into day.
The soldiers let us be; although once a party of two
companies and some dragoons went by in the bottom of
the valley, where I could see them through the window
as I lay in bed. What was much more astonishing, no
magistrate came near me, and there was no question
put of whence I came or whither I was going; and in
that time of excitement, I was as free of all inquiry as