We may all be tempted ; but to take a life in cold blood , Alan ! '' And I could say no more for the moment . `` And do you know who did it ? '' I added . `` Do you know that man in the black coat ? '' `` I have nae clear mind about his coat , '' said Alan cunningly , `` but it sticks in my head that it was blue . '' `` 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 XXXXX the soldiers . ''
's Do added draw forgetting get say sticks suspected tying