 farther explanation
-
    »The Captain, man,« interrupted Duncan; »folk winna ken wha ye are speaking
aboot, unless ye gie shentlemens their proper title.«
    »The Captain, then,« said David, »assures me that the call is unanimous on
the part of the parishioners - a real harmonious call, Reuben.«
    »I pelieve,« said Duncan, »it was as harmonious as could pe expected, when
the tae half o' the bodies were clavering Sassenach, and the t'other skirling
Gaelic, like sea-maws and clackgeese before a storm. Ane wad hae needed the gift
of tongues to ken preceesely what they said - but I pelieve the best end of it
was, Long live MacCallummore and Knockdunder! - And as to its being an unanimous
call, I wad be glad to ken fat business the carles have to call ony thing or ony
body but what the Duke and mysell likes!«
    »Nevertheless,« said Mr. Butler, »if any of the parishioners have any
scruples, which sometimes happen in the mind of sincere professors, I should be
happy of an opportunity of trying to remove« -
    »Never fash your peard about it, man,« interrupted Duncan Knock - »Leave it
a' to me. - Scruple! deil ane o' them has been bred up to scruple onything that
they're bidden to do. And if sic a thing suld happen as ye speak o', ye sall see
the sincere professor, as ye ca' him, towed at the stern of my boat for a few
furlongs. I'll try if the water of the Haly Loch winna wash off scruples as weel
as fleas - Cot tam!« -
    The rest of Duncan's threat was lost in a growling gurgling sort of sound,
which he made in his throat, and which menaced recusants with no gentle means of
conversion. David Deans would certainly have given battle in defence of the
right of the Christian congregation to be consulted in the choice of their own
pastor, which, in his estimation, was one of the choicest and most inalienable
of their privileges; but he had again engaged in close conversation with Jeanie,
and, with more interest than he was in use to take in affairs foreign alike to
his occupation and to his religious tenets, was inquiring into the particulars
of her London journey. This was, perhaps, fortunate for the new-formed
friendship betwixt him and the Captain of Knockdunder, which rested, in David's
estimation, upon the proofs he had given of his skill in managing stock;
