ed
short, and, looking fixedly upon it, perceived that it was a human being
in a kind of red jacket, seated on the extreme verge of the precipice
which I have already made a faint attempt to describe. Wondering who it
could be, I shouted; but it took not the slightest notice, remaining as
immovable as the rock on which it sat. 'I should never have thought of
going near that edge,' said I to myself; 'however, as you have done it,
why should not I? And I should like to know who you are.' So I
commenced the descent of the rock, but with great care, for I had as yet
never been in a situation so dangerous; a slight moisture exuded from the
palms of my hands, my nerves were tingling, and my brain was somewhat
dizzy--and now I had arrived within a few yards of the figure, and had
recognised it: it was the wild drummer who had turned the tide of battle
in the bicker on the Castle Brae. A small stone which I dislodged now
rolled down the rock, and tumbled into the abyss close beside him. He
turned his head, and after looking at me for a moment somewhat vacantly,
he resumed his former attitude. I drew yet nearer to the horrible edge;
not close, however, for fear was on me.

'What are you thinking of, David?' said I, as I sat behind him and
trembled, for I repeat that I was afraid.

_David Haggart_. I was thinking of Willie Wallace.

_Myself_. You had better be thinking of yourself, man. A strange place
this to come to and think of William Wallace.

_David Haggart_. Why so? Is not his tower just beneath our feet?

_Myself_. You mean the auld ruin by the side of the Nor' Loch--the ugly
stane bulk, from the foot of which flows the spring into the dyke where
the watercresses grow?

_David Haggart_. Just sae, Geordie.

_Myself_. And why were ye thinking of him? The English hanged him long
since, as I have heard say.

_David Haggart_. I was thinking that I should wish to be like him.

_Myself_. Do ye mean that ye would wish to be hanged?

_David Haggart_. I wadna flinch from that, Geordie, if I might be a
great man first.

_Myself_. And wha kens, Davie, how great you may be, even without
hanging? Are ye not in the high road of preferment? Are ye not a bauld
drummer already? Wha kens how high ye may rise? perhaps to be general,
or drum-major.

_David Haggart_. I hae nae wish to be drum-major; it were nae great
things to be like the doited carle, Else-than-gude, as they call him;
and, troth, he has