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, Morag will bring out the food for ye to carry back. It is under the hay in the barn, well hid. Morag will bring it.--Go, Morag, and bring it. (MORAG _enters other room or barn which opens on right._) STEWART. Mother, I wonder at ye; Morag would never tell--never. MARY STEWART. Morag is only a lass yet. She has never been tried. And who knows what she might be made to tell. STEWART. Well, well, it is no matter, for I was telling you where I left them, but not where I am to _find_ them. MARY STEWART. They are not where you said now? STEWART. No; they left the corrie last night, and I am to find them (_whispers_) in a quiet part on Rannoch moor. MARY STEWART. It is as well for a young lass not to be knowing. Do not tell her. (_He sits down at table; the old woman ministers to his wants._) STEWART. A fire is a merry thing on a night like this; and a roof over the head is a great comfort. MARY STEWART. Ye'll no' can stop the night? STEWART. No. I must be many a mile from here before the day breaks on Ben Dearig. (MORAG _reenters._) MORAG. It was hard to get through, Dugald? STEWART. You may say that. I came down Erricht for three miles, and then when I reached low country I had to take to walking in the burns because of the snow that shows a man's steps and tells who he is to them that can read; and there's plenty can do that abroad, God knows. MORAG. But none spied ye? STEWART. Who can tell? Before dark came, from far up on the slopes of Dearig I saw soldiers about; and away towards the Rannoch Moor they were scattered all over the country like black flies on a white sheet. A wild cat or anything that couldna fly could never have got through. And men at every brig and ford and pass! I had to strike away up across the slopes again; and even so as I turned round the bend beyond Kilrain I ran straight into a sentry sheltering behind a great rock. But after that it was easy going. MORAG. How could that be? STEWART. Well, you see I took the boots off him, and then I had no need to mind who might see my steps in the snow. MORAG. You took the boots off him! STEWART (_laughing_). I did that same. Does that puzzle your bonny head? How does a lad take the boots off a redcoat? Find out the answer, my lass, while I will be finishing my meat. MORAG. Maybe he was asleep? STEWART. Asleep! Asleep! Well, well, he sleeps sound enough now, with the ten toes of him pointed to the sky. (
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