after the hogs and gimmers ayont the Dod."

"I, too," exclaimed a voice from the corner, over which, however, a fair
hand was pressed, and which was therefore but indistinctly heard--"I
will--(canna ye let me speak, Jessie!)--I will not, I shall not be left
behind--I will accompany the guidman, and do what I can to seek and to
save."

"Indeed and indeed, my dear William, ye can do nae guid--ye dinna ken
the grun' like my faither; and there's mony a kittle step forbye the
Head Scaur; and, the Lord be wi' us! on sic a nicht too." So saying, she
clasped her betrothed firmly around the neck, and absolutely compelled
him to relinquish his purpose. Having gained this one object, the fair
and affectionate bride rushed across the room to her father, and falling
down on her knees, grasped him by the legs, and exclaimed--

"O mither, mither! come and help me--come and help me! faither, my dear
faither, let Jamie Hogg gang, and the rest; they are young, ye ken, and
as weel acquant as yersel' wi' the ly o' the glens! but this is no a
nicht for the faither o' a family to risk his life to save his
substance. O faither, faither! I am soon, ye ken, to leave you and bonny
Burnfoot--grant me, oh, grant me this one, this last request!"

The mother sat all this while wringing her hands and exclaiming--

"Ay, ay, Jenny, get him to stay, get him to stay!"

The father answered not a word, but, making a sign to Hogg, and
whistling on Help, and at the same time kissing his _now_ all but
fainting child, he rushed out of the door (as Mrs. Harkness said) "like
a fey man," and he and his companion, with a suitable accompaniment of
dogs, were almost instantly invisible. The three other lads, suitably
armed and accompanied, followed the example set to them, and the
guidwife, the two lovers, five or six younger branches, and the female
servants of the family, with myself, remained at home in a state of
anxiety and suspense which can be better conceived than expressed.

"The varnished clock that clicked behind the door,"

with a force and a stroke loud and painful in the extreme, struck first
ten, then eleven, then twelve; but there was no return. Again and again
were voices heard commingling with the tempest's rush; again and again
did the outer door seem to move backwards on its hinges; but nothing
entered save the shrill pipe of the blast, accompanied by the comminuted
drift, which penetrated through every seam and cranny. This state of