`` Blue or black , did ye know him ? '' said I. `` I couldnae just conscientiously swear to him , '' says Alan . `` He gaed very close by me , to be sure , but it 's a strange thing that I should just have been tying my brogues . '' `` Can you swear that you do n't know him , Alan ? '' I cried , half angered , half in a mind to laugh at his evasions . `` Not yet , '' says he ; `` but I 've a grand memory for forgetting , David . '' `` And yet there was one thing I saw clearly , '' said I ; `` and that was , that you exposed yourself and me to draw the soldiers . '' `` It 's very likely , '' said Alan ; `` and so would any gentleman . You and me were innocent of that transaction . '' `` The better reason , since we were falsely suspected , that we should get clear , '' I cried . `` The innocent should surely come before the guilty . '' `` Why , David , '' said he , `` the innocent have aye a chance to get assoiled in court ; but for the lad that shot the bullet , I think the best place for him will be the heather . Them that havenae dipped their hands in any little difficulty , should be very mindful of the case of them that have . And that is the good Christianity . For if it was the other way round about , and the lad whom I couldnae just clearly see had been in our shoes , and we in his -LRB- as might very well have been -RRB- , I think we would be a good deal obliged to him oursel 's if he would draw the soldiers . '' When it came to this , I gave Alan up . But he looked so innocent all the time , and was in such clear good faith in what he said , and so ready to sacrifice himself for what he deemed his duty , that my mouth was closed . Mr. Henderland 's words came back to me : that we ourselves might take a lesson by these wild Highlanders . Well , here I had taken mine . Alan 's morals were all tail-first ; but he was ready to give his life for them , such as they were .
`` XXXXX , '' said I , `` I 'll not say it 's the good Christianity as I understand it , but it 's good enough .
Alan Christianity David Henderland Highlanders Mr. brogues half oursel soldiers