feet an' the han's o'
'im."

Janet obeyed and went. Angus, who had been quiet enough for the
last ten minutes, meditating and watching, began to swear furiously,
but Robert paid no more heed than if he had not heard him--stood
calm and grim at his head, with the clubbed sword heaved over his
shoulder. When she came back, by her husband's directions, she
passed the rope repeatedly round the keeper's ankles, then several
times between them, drawing the bouts tightly together, so that,
instead of the two sharing one ring, each ankle had now, as it were,
a close-fitting one for itself. Again and again, as she tied it,
did Angus meditate a sudden spring, but the determined look of
Robert, and his feeling memory of the blows he had so unsparingly
delivered upon him, as well as the weakening effect of that he had
received on his head, caused him to hesitate until it was altogether
too late. When they began to bind his hands, however, he turned
desperate, and struck at both, cursing and raging.

"Gien ye binna quaiet, ye s' taste the dog's teeth," said
Robert.--Angus reflected that he would have a better chance when he
was left alone with Janet, and yielded.--"Troth!" Robert went on,
as he continued his task, "I hae no pity left for ye, Angus Mac
Pholp; an' gien ye tyauve ony mair, I'll lat at ye. I wad care no
more to caw oot yer harns nor I wad to kill a tod (fox). To be
hangt for't, I wad be but prood. It's a fine thing to be hangt for
a guid cause, but ye'll be hangt for an ill ane.--Noo, Janet, fess a
bun'le o' brackens frae the byre, an' lay aneth's heid. We maunna
be sairer upo' him, nor the needcessity laid upo' hiz. I s' jist
trail him aff o' the door, an' a bit on to the fire, for he'll be
cauld whan he's quaitet doon, an' syne I'll awa' an' get word o' the
shirra'. Scotlan's come till a pretty pass, whan they shot men wi'
guns, as gien they war wull craturs to be peelt an' aiten. Care
what set him! He may weel be a keeper o' ghem, for he's as ill a
keeper o' 's brither as auld Cain himsel'. But," he concluded,
tying the last knot hard, "we'll e'en dee what we can to keep the
keeper."

It was seldom Robert spoke at such length, but the provocation, the
wrath, the conflict, and the victory, had sent the blood rushing
through his brain, and loosed his tongue like strong drink.

"Ye'll tak yer denner afore ye gang, Robert," said his wife.

"Na, I can ait naething; I'll tak a bannock i' my pooch. Ye