k heart; but
traitors' words ne'er yet hurt the honest cause."

"Peace, woman!" said an officer of the court, not unkindly.

"Weel, then, God speak for me! an' my thoughts are free; if I daurna
say, I may think."

In defence Margaret Fae swore that she had been with John on Brogar
Bridge until nearly time to meet her father, and that John then wore a
black broadcloth suit and a high hat; furthermore, that she believed
it utterly impossible for him to have gone home, changed his clothes,
and then reached the scene of the murder at the time Hacon Flett and
Ragon Torr swore to his appearance there.

But watches were very uncommon then; no one of the witnesses had any
very distinct idea of the time; some of them varied as much as an hour
in their estimate. It was also suggested by the prosecution that John
probably had the other suit secreted near the scene of the murder.
Certain it was that he had not been able either to produce it or to
account for its mysterious disappearance.

The probability of Sandy Beg being the murderer was then advanced; but
Sandy was known to have sailed in a whaling vessel before the murder,
and no one had seen him in Stromness since his departure for Wick
after his dismissal from Peter Fae's service.

No one? Yes, some one had seen him. That fatal night, as Ragon Torr
was crossing the moor to Peter's house--he having some news of a very
particular vessel to give--he heard the cry of "Murder," and he heard
Hacon Flett call out, "I know thee, John Sabay. Thou hast stabbed my
master!" and he instantly put himself in the way of the flying man.
Then he knew at once that it was Sandy Beg in John Sabay's clothes.
The two men looked a moment in each other's face, and Sandy saw in
Ragon's something that made him say,

"She'll pat Sandy safe ta night, an' that will mak her shure o' ta
lass she's seeking far."

There was no time for parley; Ragon's evil nature was strongest, and
he answered, "There is a cellar below my house, thou knows it weel."

Indeed, most of the houses in Stromness had underground passages, and
places of concealment used for smuggling purposes, and Ragon's lonely
house was a favorite rendezvous. The vessel whose arrival he had been
going to inform Peter of was a craft not likely to come into Stromness
with all her cargo.

Towards morning Ragon had managed to see Sandy and send him out to her
with such a message as insured her rapid disappearance. Sandy had also
with him a