d as having broken his word, and betrayed the
confidence of his officers? and whom but Hamish Bean MacTavish would the
Gael accuse for having verified and confirmed the suspicions which the
Saxon General was well known to entertain against the good faith of
the Highlanders? He was, therefore, bent firmly to abide his fate. But
whether his intention was to yield himself peaceably into the bands of
the party who should come to apprehend him, or whether he purposed, by
a show of resistance, to provoke them to kill him on the spot, was a
question which he could not himself have answered. His desire to see
Barcaldine, and explain the cause of his absence at the appointed time,
urged him to the one course; his fear of the degrading punishment, and
of his mother's bitter upbraidings, strongly instigated the latter and
the more dangerous purpose. He left it to chance to decide when the
crisis should arrive; nor did he tarry long in expectation of the
catastrophe.

Evening approached; the gigantic shadows of the mountains streamed in
darkness towards the east, while their western peaks were still glowing
with crimson and gold. The road which winds round Ben Cruachan was
fully visible from the door of the bothy, when a party of five Highland
soldiers, whose arms glanced in the sun, wheeled suddenly into sight
from the most distant extremity, where the highway is hidden behind the
mountain. One of the party walked a little before the other four, who
marched regularly and in files, according to the rules of military
discipline. There was no dispute, from the firelocks which they carried,
and the plaids and bonnets which they wore, that they were a party of
Hamish's regiment, under a non-commissioned officer; and there could be
as little doubt of the purpose of their appearance on the banks of Loch
Awe.

"They come briskly forward"--said the widow of MacTavish Mhor;--"I
wonder how fast or how slow some of them will return again! But they
are five, and it is too much odds for a fair field. Step back within the
hut, my son, and shoot from the loophole beside the door. Two you may
bring down ere they quit the highroad for the footpath--there will
remain but three; and your father, with my aid, has often stood against
that number."

Hamish Bean took the gun which his mother offered, but did not stir from
the door of the hut. He was soon visible to the party on the highroad,
as was evident from their increasing their pace to a run--th