pled-up organs began to recover, Bane said to Dougall,
"Shames, this iss a bad business."

Dougall, having been caught twice that evening, was on his guard. He
would not absolutely agree with his friend, but admitted that he was not
far wrong.

Again the yell burst forth with intensified volume and complicated
variation. Salamander was young; he did not yet know that it is
possible to over-act.

"Shames!" whispered Bane, "I hev got a notion in my hid."

"I hope it's a coot w'an, Tonald, for the notions that usually git into
it might stop there with advantage. They are not much to boast of."

"You shall see. Just you keep talkin' out now an' then as if I wass
beside you, an' don't, whativer ye do, fire into the bushes."

"Ferry coot," answered Dougall.

Another moment, and Donald Bane glided over the parapet of their fort at
the side nearest the lake; and, creeping serpent-fashion for a
considerable distance round, gained the bushes, where he waited for a
repetition of the cry. He had not long to wait. With that boldness,
not to say presumption, which is the child of success, Salamander now
began to make too many drafts on genius, and invented a series of howls
so preposterously improbable that it was impossible for even the most
credulous to believe them the natural cries of man, beast, demon, or
monster.

Following up the sound, Donald Bane soon came to a little hollow where,
in the dim light, he perceived Salamander's visage peering over a ridge
in the direction of the fortress, his eyes glittering with glee and his
mouth wide-open in the act of giving vent to the hideous cries. The
Highlander had lived long in the wilderness, and was an adept in its
ways. With the noiseless motion of a redskin he wormed his way through
the underwood until close alongside of the nocturnal visitor, and then
suddenly stopped a howl of more than demoniac ferocity by clapping a
hand on Salamander's mouth.

With a convulsive wriggle the youth freed his mouth, and uttered a
shriek of genuine alarm, but Bane's strong arm pinned him to the earth.

"Ye dirty loon," growled the man in great wrath, "wass you thinkin' to
get the better of a Heelandman? Come along with ye. I'll give you a
lesson that you'll not forget--whatever."

Despite his struggles, Bane held Salamander fast until he ceased to
resist, when he grasped him by the collar, and led him towards the
little fort.

At first, Salamander had been on the point of