midnight
Suspicion , from the first , fell upon the brother of the boy Rob Paterson , whom Laing had killed many years before . Revenge is the most enduring , perhaps , of all the passions , and rather feeds upon itself than decays . Like fame , `` it acquires strength by time ; '' and it was suspected that Dan Paterson , a reckless and a dissipated man , had done the deed . In confirmation of this supposition , Dan was nowhere to be found , and it was strongly suspected that his wife and his son , who returned at midnight with the boat , had set Dan on shore somewhere on the coast , and that he had effected his escape . Death , for some time , seemed every day and hour nearer at hand ; but at last the symptoms softened , the fever mitigated , the swelling subsided , and , after much careful and skilful surgery , most admirably conducted by Dr. Goodsir 's son , the ball was extracted . The wound closed without mortification ; and , in a week or two , Mr. Laing was not only out of danger , but out of bed , and walking about , as he does to this hour , with his arm in a sling . It was about the period of his recovery , that Dan Paterson was taken as he was skulking about in the west country , apparently looking out for a ship in which to sail to America .