thief: and I am not aware of any danger
from burglars in these islands."

"Why no," replied the lady. "We have no great temptation to offer to
burglars; and nothing to lose worth the waste of powder and bullet."

"Then, if I may ask--"

"O yes; you may ask what I want the pistol for. It strikes me that the
boat from yonder vessel may possibly be sent back for me yet. They may
think me a prize worth having, if the stupid people carried my story
right. I would go with them--I would go joyfully--for the chance of
shooting that young gentleman through the head."

"Young gentleman!" repeated Mr Ruthven, aghast.

"Yes, the young Pretender. My father lost his life for shooting a Lord
President. His daughter is the one to go beyond him, by getting rid of
a Prince Charlie. It would be a tale for history, that he was disposed
of among these islands by the bravery of a woman. Why, you look so
aghast," she continued, turning from the husband to the wife, "that--
Yes, yes. Oh, ho! I have found you out!--you are Jacobites! I see it
in your faces. I see it. There now, don't deny it Jacobites you are--
and henceforth my enemies."

With stammering eagerness, both husband and wife denied the charge. The
fact was, they were not Jacobites; neither had they any sustaining
loyalty on the other side. They understood very little of the matter,
either way; and dreaded, above everything, being pressed to take any
part. They thought it very hard to have their lot cast in precisely
that corner of the empire where it was first necessary to take some part
before knowing what the nation, or the majority, meant to do. First,
they prevented the lady's finding the pistol, as the safest proceeding
on the whole; next, they wished themselves a thousand miles off, so
earnestly and so often, that it occurred to them to consider whether
they could not accomplish a part of this desire, and get a hundred miles
away, or fifty, or twenty--somewhere, at least, out of sight of the
Pretender's privateer.

In a few hours the privateer was out of sight--"Gone about north," the
steward declared, "for supplies:" as nobody was willing to give them any
help while under the shadow of Macdonald and Macleod. In the evening,
little Kate rushed into Annie's cottage, silently threw her arms about
the widow's neck, and almost strangled her with a tight hug. Adam
followed, and struggled to do the same. When he wanted to speak, he
began to cry; and gri