ong the
bank up the stream, and to their surprise, when he had gone a little
more than a hundred yards he dashed into the water. For a time the water
was shallow, and he waded out until he reached the edge of the regular
bank of the river, and then swam out into the current.

"Go back," the horseman shouted; but his voice did not reach the
swimmer, who, in a few strokes, was in the full force of the stream, and
was soon lost to the sight of the horsemen among the short foaming waves
of the torrent.

"The boy will be drowned," one of the horsemen said, spurring his horse
up the valley; but in another minute the lad was seen breasting the
calmer water just above the ford.

"You cannot cross here, Captain Hume," he said, as he approached the
horsemen. "You must go nigh a mile up the river."

"Why, who are you, lad?" the horseman asked, "and how do you know my
name?"

"I'm the nephew of Nigel Graheme. Seeing how deep the floods were I came
out to show you the way, for the best horse in the world could not swim
the Nith here now."

"But this is the ford," Captain Hume said.

"Yes, this is the ford in dry weather. The bottom here is hard rock and
easy to ride over when the river is but waist deep, but below and above
this place it is covered with great boulders. The water is six feet
deep here now, and the horses would be carried down among the rocks, and
would never get across. A mile up the river is always deep, and though
the current is strong there is nothing to prevent a bold horseman from
swimming across."

"I thank you heartily, young sir," Captain Hume said. "I can see how
broken is the surface of the water, and doubt not that it would have
fared hard with us had we attempted to swim across here. In faith,
Munro, we have had a narrow escape."

"Ay, indeed," the other agreed. "It would have been hard if you and I,
after going through all the battlefields of the Low Countries, should
have been drowned here together in a Scottish burn. Your young friend is
a gallant lad and a good swimmer, for in truth it was no light task to
swim that torrent with the water almost as cold as ice."

"Now, sirs, will you please to ride on," the boy said; "it is getting
dark fast, and the sooner we are across the better."

So saying he went off at a fast run, the horses trotting behind him. A
mile above he reached the spot he had spoken of. The river was narrower
here, and the stream was running with great rapidity, swirling