ttlement deevils doon
upon us. D'ye think Rawdon's gaun to Collingwood, Nash?"

"Not a bit of it. I believe he came past here, openly and dressed as he
was, for three reasons. First, he wants to prove an alibi for himself,
whatever happens. Second, he wanted to see how we are guarded, and by
that loud whistling has informed his confederates not far off that it is
useless to try the house from the front. Thirdly, he has circled round
to take command of the villains that fired on me out of the waggon we
couldn't find."

"What's to be done then?" asked the Squire and the lawyer in a breath.

"We must watch the means of access from the left to the right. You see,
there are bushes, young willows and alders, all along the bank of the
creek, behind which they can steal towards that ferny hollow under the
birches, and, from thence, either make for the bit of bush Mr. Terry is
guarding, or creep behind the scattered boulders towards the fence. Your
shrubberies about the house and live hedges and little meadow copses are
very pretty and picturesque, Squire, but a bare house on the top of a
treeless hill would be infinitely better to stand a siege."

"Aye, aye, Nash; but I'm no gaun tae cut doon my bonnie trees an' busses
for a wheen murderin' vagabones."

"Well, I'll get a gun from one of the men in the kitchen, and explore
the hillside below the Captain."

Having secured Ben Toner's gun, the best of the lot, the detective
walked down the garden to the gate, where he found Perrowne vainly
endeavouring to comfort Muggins. The poor dog did not even whine, but
shivered as he stood, otherwise paralyzed with abject terror.

"Crouch down by the fence," whispered the detective in the parson's ear,
and at once crouched down beside him.

"Do you see that moving object coming up the hill from the birches? By
Jove! there's another crawling behind it. What is it?"

"It's an animal of some sawrt," answered Perrowne.

"That accounts for your dog's fear. It isn't a bear, is it? There may be
some about after early berries."

"Now, it's not a bear, though I've been towld dawgs are very much afraid
of bears."

Just then the animal keeled over, and immediately there followed the
report of a rifle. The crawler behind the beast slid back into the
hollow and disappeared. Then, from the left of the house came a volley
that woke the echoes all round; it was the explosion of the Captain's
blunderbuss. The detective ran along the fence to Mr