The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

WILLIAM AND ROBERT WEST between finger and thumb, high above the collection plate, and letting it drop with a resounding clunk). Even at church festivals, there lay between him and the other people a little gulf of segrega- tion. At an anniversary supper, Wally bought only one ticket for himself and Jess. When he presented it at the door of the banquet room, the taker of tickets was quick to protest: "But Wally," he said, "there are two of you and only one ticket." "Mon! mon!" exclaimed the affronted Wally. "Where's thy re- ligion. Hath not the gude Lord made me and Jess ane? What the Lord has joined together wouldst thou cut asunder?" On another occasion, the elders protested against his habit of holding his lighted lantern in the gallery during the evening services. Wally looked at them in surprise, and then almost scornfully said "Should I not in this dark and wicked world let my light so shine?". Even on the evenings when he walked the shadowy line between day and night, kindling the town lamps and leaving their yellow glow behind him, he was a stranger from another world. His duty done, he retraced his steps to the banks and braes of his bonny Nith. Bobby West lived most of his life in his father's dream world. When a voung man he worked for a few years in John Penman's mill as a mechanic; but unable to endure the routine of an ordinary occupation, he left the world of humdrum toil and dedicated his life to enjoying the Nith. He helped his father to build and rent punts (a few old-timers say that he did all the building), he rowed and fished, and he filled the minds of small boys with river lore. He is known to have rescued at least fifty people from drowning, and to have received medals for his most sensational rescues. And he is also said to have snatched from the water-kelpies another two hundred or more intended victims, and to have received a medal for each heroic feat. Some of these latter medals, since they com- memorated fantastic deeds of courage, were of fantastic design and bore fantastic inscriptions. And some performed a dual function: they commemorated a heroic deed and (for example) the Chicago Exposition or the Burford Fair. One of Bobby's authentic and most famous rescues was performed on May 2, I895. According to The Star-Transcript, four young boys had rented a small boat from the Nith River Navigation Company, and had cruised about the river. Just before returning to the dock, they crowded two other boys aboard. When the boat had almost reached the shore, one of the boys began to rock it. Water poured over the side. The boat slowly sank. Only one of the boys could swim. He reached the bank. The other five shrieked for help and struggled above and below the sur- face of the water. Bobby heard the cries and saw the heads bobbing up and down. He leaped into a boat, rowed to the spot, and dived to the rescue. Four of the boys seized him and clung so tenaciously 247