and has naethin' wrong wi' him except that
he belongs to Forfar and has a perpetual drouth, tells me that our twa
friends were juist in and oot, no mair than a week wi' the dragoons.
My idea is that they went wi' Livingstone to get to us. And what
for--aye, what for?"

"For King James, I should say, and a bellyful of fighting," said
Dundee carelessly.

"Maybe ye're richt, and if so, there's no mischief done; and maybe
ye're wrang, and if so, there will be black trouble. At ony rate, I
didna like the story, and I wasna taken wi' the men. No that they're
bad-lookin', but they're after some ploy. Weel, they ride by
themsel's, and they camp by themsel's, and they eat by themsel's, and
they sleep by themsel's. So this midday, when we haltit, they made off
to the bank o' the river, and settled themsel's ablow a tree, and by
chance a burn ran into the river there wi' a high bank on the side
next them. Are ye listenin', my lord?"

"Yes, yes," said Dundee, whose thoughts had evidently been far away,
and who was attaching little importance to Jock's groundless fears.
"Go on. So you did a bit of scouting, I suppose?"

"I did," said Jock, with some pride, "and they never jaloused wha was
lying close beside them, like a tod (fox) in his hole. I'm no
prepared to say that I could catch a' their colloguing, but I got
enough to set me thinkin'. Juist bits, but they could be pieced
togither."

"Well," said Dundee, with more interest, "what were the bits?"

"The one asks the other where he keeps his pass. 'Sown in the lining
of my coat,' says he. 'Where's yours?' 'In my boot,' answers he, 'the
safest place.' Who gave them the passes, thinks I to myself, and what
are they hiding them for? So I cocks both my ears to hear the rest."

"And what was that, Jock?" And Dundee now was paying close attention.

"For a while they spoke so low I could only hear, 'This underhand work
goes against my stomach.' 'Aha, my lad, so it's underhand,' says I in
my hole. 'It's worth the doing,' says the other, 'and a big stroke of
work if we succeed. It might be a throne one way or other.' 'Not to
us,' laughs the first. 'No,' says his friend, 'but we'll have our
share.' 'This is no ordinary work,' says I to mysel', and I risked my
ears out of the hole. 'It's no an army,' says one o' them, 'but juist
a rabble, and a' depends on one man.' 'You're right there,' answers
the other, 'if he falls all is over.' Then they said something to one
another I couldn