‘What silly rot!’ I said. ‘What made you shove that down? What does it mean?’ ‘That's the funny part,’ said McLeod. ‘I'm not quite sure what it does mean. All I know is, it just came into my head and I corked it down. I know what I think it means, because just before I wrote it down I had a sort of picture of it in my head: I believe it means “Remember the well among the four”—what are those dark sort of trees that have red berries on them?’ ‘Mountain ashes, I s’pose you mean.’ ‘I never heard of them,’ said McLeod; ‘no, I'll tell you-yews.’ ‘Well, and what did Sampson say?’ ‘Why, he was jolly odd about it. When he read it he got up and went to the mantelpiece and stopped quite a long time without saying anything, with his back to me. And then he said, without turning round, and rather quiet, “What do you suppose that means?” I told him what I thought; only I couldn't remember the name of the silly tree and then he wanted to know why I put it down, and I had to say something or other. And after that he left off talking about it, and
