st can blurt oot the news and keep
runnin', it's maistly truth, but if he stops and begins to walk, and
twist his mouth before he speaks, he's makin' lies," said McKinnon, and
turned himself in the water.

The searchers were beginning to tire of beating.

"Roast the devil oot." "Ay, gie McBride a taste o' the fire."

"I'm thanking God for a fool," said Dan, "if the whins will just burn,
but whins are dour revengefu' bushes."

"Burn," says Ronny--"burn; they'll hiv a bleeze ye'll see for twenty
miles--we're bate, Dan."

"Na, na," says Dan. "Wait you, yonder's a twinkle, anither. Man,
they'll mak' a bonny lowe, and waste a heap of good keep."

Men were rushing hither and thither with flaming branches, and already,
when the breeze freshened, you could hear the roar and crackle. The
great lilac flames leapt ten feet in the air, and the night rained
stars. The sparks fell above us like fire-flakes, and some came down
and sizzled out in our pool.

When the flames were roaring like a hurricane, Dan spoke softly--

"We'll go now."

"Are ye daft?" said Ronny.

"Ye don't ken the effect o' a fire like that," said Dan. "A man must
look at it, and see the lowes ploofin' into the sky, and the sparks
fleein'. He canna help himsel'. The horses will be needing a lot o'
handling too, and the men on the low side'll just hiv tae run tae
winward or lie in the burn, for the heat o' whuns is terrible. They'll
a' face the flames waitin' till we run oot like bleezin' deevils, and
they're sae sure that we will start every moment, they will not lift
their eyes for fear they will be missing the sight o' us."

"We must just risk it," said I, "for I'm like to freeze here."

Dan put his head out of our hole and crawled out, and I followed, and
Ronny last. We could feel the air warm, and the night was clear as
day, and yet the searchers stood gazing at their fire as Dan had said.
We crawled flat like snakes, keeping among dark patches as much as we
could, till we came to the turf dyke, and still our pursuers tended the
fire. Slowly and softly we crossed into heather, and lay for a minute.
Then, looking down across the common, Dan threw back his head and
laughed in his silent fashion.

"We're among our ain heather now, Hamish," says he. "In an hour we'll
be among the peat hags. I've a mind tae whistle them up."

"I've lain long enough in the water, Dan," said I.

"Aweel," says he, "we'll just make McAllan's Locker for it;