“Wass there anything the matter, sir?” he said with much evidence of concern.

“My head is a little bad, Donald,” Lavender said, still pressing his hands on his temples, as if to get rid of some strange feeling.  “I wish you would pull in to the shore and get me some whisky.”

“Oh ay,” said the old man, hastily scrambling into the little black boat lying beside the smack; “and it is no wonder to me this will come to you, sir, for I hef never seen any of the gentlemen so long at the pentin as you—­from the morning till the night; and it is no wonder to me this will come to you.  But I will get you the whushky:  it is a grand thing, the whushky.”

The old fisherman was not long in getting ashore and running up to the cottage in which Lavender lived, and getting a bottle of whisky and a glass.  Then he got down to the boat again, and was surprised that he could nowhere see Mr. Lavender on board the smack.  Perhaps he had lain down on the nets in the bottom of the boat.

When Donald got out to the smack he found the young man lying insensible, his face white and his teeth clenched.  With something of a cry the old fisherman jumped into the boat, knelt down, and proceeded in a rough and ready fashion to force some whisky into Lavender’s mouth.  “Oh ay, oh yes, it is a grand thing, the whushky,” he muttered to himself.  “Oh yes, sir, you must hef some more:  it is no matter if you will choke.  It is ferry good whushky, and will do you no harm whatever; and oh yes, sir, that is ferry well, and you are all right again, and you will sit quite quiet now, and you will hef a little more whushky.”

The young man looked round him:  “Have you been ashore, Donald?  Oh yes—­I suppose so.  Did I tumble?  Well, I am all right now:  it was the glare of the sea that made me giddy.  Take a dram for yourself, Donald.”

“There is but the one glass, sir,” said Donald, who had picked up something of the notions of gentlefolks, “but I will just tek the bottle;” and so, to avoid drinking out of the same glass (which was rather a small one), he was good enough to take a pull, and a strong pull, at the black bottle.  Then he heaved a sigh, and wiped the top of the bottle with his sleeve.  “Yes, as I was saying, sir, there was none of the gentlemen I hef effer seen in Tarbert will keep at the pentin so long ass you; and many of them will be stronger ass you, and will be more accustomed to it whatever.  But when a man iss making money—­” and Donald shook his head:  he knew it was useless to argue.

“But I am not making money, Donald,” Lavender said, still looking a trifle pale.  “I doubt whether I have made as much as you have since I came to Tarbert.”

“Oh yes,” said Donald contentedly, “all the gentlemen will say that.  They never hef any money.  But wass you ever with them when they could not get a dram because they had no money to pay for it?”

Donald’s test of impecuniosity could not be gainsaid.  Lavender laughed, and bade him get back into the other boat.