n the jury; though as the other four were equally in the
Duke's dependence, it mattered less than might appear. Still, I cried
out that he was unjust to the Duke of Argyle, who (for all he was a
Whig) was yet a wise and honest nobleman.

"Hoot!" said Alan, "the man's a Whig, nae doubt; but I would never deny
he was a good chieftain to his clan. And what would the clan think if
there was a Campbell shot, and naebody hanged, and their own chief
the Justice General? But I have often observed," says Alan, "that you
Low-country bodies have no clear idea of what's right and wrong."

At this I did at last laugh out aloud, when to my surprise, Alan joined
in, and laughed as merrily as myself.

"Na, na," said he, "we're in the Hielands, David; and when I tell ye
to run, take my word and run. Nae doubt it's a hard thing to skulk and
starve in the Heather, but it's harder yet to lie shackled in a red-coat
prison."

I asked him whither we should flee; and as he told me "to the Lowlands,"
I was a little better inclined to go with him; for, indeed, I was
growing impatient to get back and have the upper-hand of my uncle.
Besides, Alan made so sure there would be no question of justice in the
matter, that I began to be afraid he might be right. Of all deaths, I
would truly like least to die by the gallows; and the picture of that
uncanny instrument came into my head with extraordinary clearness (as I
had once seen it engraved at the top of a pedlar's ballad) and took away
my appetite for courts of justice.

"I'll chance it, Alan," said I. "I'll go with you."

"But mind you," said Alan, "it's no small thing. Ye maun lie bare and
hard, and brook many an empty belly. Your bed shall be the moorcock's,
and your life shall be like the hunted deer's, and ye shall sleep with
your hand upon your weapons. Ay, man, ye shall taigle many a weary foot,
or we get clear! I tell ye this at the start, for it's a life that I ken
well. But if ye ask what other chance ye have, I answer: Nane. Either
take to the heather with me, or else hang."

"And that's a choice very easily made," said I; and we shook hands upon
it.

"And now let's take another keek at the red-coats," says Alan, and he
led me to the north-eastern fringe of the wood.

Looking out between the trees, we could see a great side of mountain,
running down exceeding steep into the waters of the loch. It was a rough
part, all hanging stone, and heather, and big scrogs of birchwood; and