had been laid,
black Pater-Nosters, banned plaids and cloths, were all of as much potency
in his mind as the "ratoun poysoun" so dear to the lady; and the method of
his intended murder rested on such means as these. They made a goodly pair
between them, and embodied a fair proportion of the intelligence and
morality of the time. After a small piece of preliminary sorcery,
undertaken with his foster-mother, Cristiane Neill Dayzell, and Mariaoune
M'Ingareach, "one of the most notorious and rank witches of the country,"
it was pronounced that Hector, who was sick, would not recover, unless
the principal man of his blood should suffer for him. This was found to be
none other than George Munro, of Obisdale, Lady Katherine's eldest son,
whose life must be given that Hector's might be redeemed. George, then,
must die; not by poison but by sorcery; and the first step to be taken was
to secure his presence by Hector's bedside. "Sewin poistes" or messengers
did the invalid impatiently send to him; and when he came at last, Hector
said never a word to him, after his surly "Better now that you have come,"
in answer to his half-brother's unsuspecting "How's a' wi' ye?" but sat
for a full hour with his left hand in George's right, working the first
spell in silence, according to the directions of his foster-mother and the
witch. That night, an hour after midnight, the two women went to a "piece
of ground lying between two manors," and there made a grave of Hector's
length, near to the sea-flood. A few nights after this--and it was
January, too--Hector, wrapped in blankets, was carried out of his sick
bed, and laid in this grave; he, his foster-mother, and M'Ingareach all
silent as death, until Cristiane should have gotten speech with their
master, the devil. The sods were then laid over the laird, and the witch
M'Ingareach sat down by him, while Cristiane Dayzell, with a young boy in
her hand, ran the breadth of nine rigs or furrows, coming back to the
grave, to ask the witch "who was her choice." M'Ingareach, prompted of
course by the devil, answered that "Mr. Hector was her choice to live and
his brother George to die for him." This ceremony was repeated thrice, and
then they all returned silently to the house, Mr. Hector carried in his
blankets as before. The strangest thing of all was that Mr. Hector was not
killed by the ceremony.

Hector Munro was now convinced that everything possible had been done, and
that his half-brother m