“I want four good men and true, sergeant, men that I can rely upon.  I shall want them to ride with me in the field as orderlies, for I have been appointed to the command of an infantry regiment.  Of course, I should like young and active men, but that they should be steady and accustomed to arms is still more important.”

“I know but few men outside the regiment,” the sergeant said.  “The laddies like to have the place to themselves, and I don’t encourage others about; but if you can do with good men who have somewhat passed their prime, but are still capable of service and handy with their arms, I know just the men that will suit you.  We had a little bit of trouble in the regiment a week since; four of the men —­ Allan Macpherson, Jock Hunter, Donald Nicholl, and Sandy Grahame —­ came in after tattoo, and all a bit fu’.  It was not here they got it, though; I know better than to supply men with liquor when it is time for them to be off to the barracks.  Captain Muir, who is the only dour carl in the regiment, happened to be on duty, and he spoke a good deal more hardly to them than to my mind there was any occasion, seeing that they are good soldiers and not in the guardroom more often than others.  They answered him more freely, no doubt, than they would have done had they not been in their cups.

“They were had up before the colonel the next morning.  They had all served their time, and having been greatly angered at their treatment, they at once up and told the colonel that they would take their discharges.  The colonel would have pacified them, but Captain Muir stood out strongly, and said that if such insolence as theirs was allowed to go unpunished it would be a bad example indeed for the regiment; so the colonel paid them up to the day and gave them their papers.  It has caused a lot of feeling in the regiment, as you may guess, and the men all groaned and booed when Muir came on parade the next day, and it was as much as the colonel himself —­ whom they all love as a father —­ could do to silence them.  It is said that he spoke very sharply to Muir afterwards, and that it is likely the captain will get transferred to another regiment.  However, that is too late for the men who have left.  Their comrades are going to get up a subscription to send them back to Scotland, for you may be sure the hotheaded fools have not a bawbee of their pay laid by.”

“I know them all, sergeant, and I should say they would be the very men to suit me; they are all strong and hearty fellows, and might have been good for another ten years campaigning if it had not been for this business.  Can you send for them?”

“They will all be here in half an hour for their meal,” the sergeant said.  “They are lodged upstairs, for you may be sure that they would come to me; and even if I kept them for six months, I should not have lost much when I reckon what they have spent here during their service.  I have no doubt they will jump at the offer; for they were mere lads when they came over —­ it was your father who sent for them —­ and I know that they reckon they will find none of the old folk when they return home.  And now what are your estates like, lad?”