y man, rise, and run down to the town,
and see what is the matter, that they are beating the alarm drum at this
time of night. I fear that"--

"Oh, dearsake, Roger!" cried Agnes, grasping my arm, "what do ye fear?"

"That--that there's a fire in the town," said I.

"Weel," quoth she, "it canna reach us. But on dear me! ye have made my
heart beat as if it would start from my breast--for I thought ye was gaun
to say that ye was feared the French were landed!"

"I hope not," said I. But, in truth, it was that which I did fear.

Robie was a bold, spirited laddie; and he rushed out of the house, cold as
it was, half-dressed, and without his jacket; but he had not been absent a
minute, when he hurried back again, and cried breathlessly as he
entered--"Faither! faither! the Law is a' in a lowe!--the French are
landed!"

I was then standing in the middle of the floor, putting on my clothes; and,
starting as though I had seen an apparition, I exclaimed--"The French
landed!--rise, Agnes! rise, and get me my accoutrements. For this day I
will arm and do battle in defence of my native land."

"Roger! Roger!" cried my wife, "wherefore will ye act foolishly. Stop at
home, as a man ought to do, to preserve and protect his ain family and his
ain property. Wherefore would ye risk life or limb withouten cause. There
will be enough to fight the French without you--unmarried men, or men that
have naebody to leave behint them and to mourn for them."

"Agnes," said I, in a tone which manifested my authority, and at the same
time shewed the courageousness of my spirit--"get me my accoutrements. I
have always been the first upon the parade, and I will not be the last to
shew my face upon the field of battle. I am but a little man--the least
battalion man in the whole corps--but I have a heart as big as the biggest
of them. Bonaparte himself is no Goliath, and a shot from my musket might
reach his breast, when a taller man would be touching the cockade on his
cocked hat. Therefore, quick! quick!--get me my accoutrements."

"Oh, guidman!" cried she, "your poor, heart-broken wife will fall on her
knees before ye--and I implore ye, for my sake, and for the sake o' our
dear bairn, that ye winna fling away life, and rush upon destruction. What
in the name of fortune, has a peaceable man like you to do wi' war or wi'
Bonaparte either? Dinna think of leaving the house this night, and I myself
will go down to the town and procure a substitute i