l be ready with the
horses an hour before daylight to-morrow, he will try the leap, and join
you at the willows above the mill. Christopher will saddle one of the
wagon-horses and lead him to the place."

"And the sentinel who keeps guard on that side?"

"Ah, John, that puzzles us," said Mary; "I'm so much afraid that you
will be rash. It is in your nature to forget yourself."

"Tut, girl; don't talk of that. I'll find a way to manage the sentinel.
I will steal up to him and take him unawares; and then seizing him by
the throat, give him his choice of a knife in between his ribs, or a
handful of guineas in his pocket."

"Hadn't we better tell him what a good man the Major is?" said Mary,
alarmed at the idea of a struggle in which her lover's life might be
endangered, "and try to coax him to take our side?"

"Ha, ha!" ejaculated the trooper involuntarily, "that's a very good
woman's thought, but it won't hold out in a campaign. The fellow might
happen to have some honesty, and then away goes our whole scheme. No,
no; blows are the coin that these rascals buy their bread with, and,
faith, we'll trade with them in the same article."

"But then, John, you will be in danger."

"What of that, girl? When have I been out of danger? And don't you see,
Mary, what good luck I have with it? Never fear me; I will stifle the
fellow in the genteelest fashion known in the wars."

"And if it must be so, John, I will say my prayers for you with more
earnestness than I ever said them in my life. As my father says, the God
of Israel will stand by our cause: and when He is for us, what care we
who is against us?"

"You are a good girl, Mary," replied John Ramsay, smiling. "Get back to
the house; let Major Butler know that you have seen me, and that I will
be ready."

"He is to be at the window," said Mary, "and I am to signify to him that
you are prepared, by setting up a plank against the garden fence in a
place where he can see it. He is to keep a look-out from the window all
night, and when the time comes you are to flash a little powder on the
edge of the woods upon the hill: if he is ready then he will show his
candle near the window-sill; that, he says, must be a sign for you to
come on; and when he sees you he will take the leap."

"I understand it," said Ramsay. "Tell Christopher to be sure of the
horse."

"I have a great deal of courage, John, when danger is far off--but when
it comes near, I tremble like a poor cowa