the
science. And I was thinking that all we'll be wanting is a little gude
peat in the fire. The peat makes a bonny fire. We're no so wasteful of
wood as you are."

[Sidenote: THE LAIRD OF INVERAWE]

"Well, Hector, we burn peat in our fires at Lexington, too."

"Then you're more civilized than I thought."

"Oh, all we really lack are the bagpipes and some of those second-sight
men and Scotch ghosts, who foretell what is going to happen. It's
strange some of them didn't tell Nabby Crombie he ought to take his
cannon with him when he attacked Ticonderoga."

"We kenned more about Ticonderoga than you think, Comee. Didn't every
mother's son in the Black Watch know that our major, Duncan Campbell,
would meet his death there? He had his warning years ago."

"A wise man don't do anything great if he tells a soldier that he's
likely to be killed some time. But as you seem to think there is
something remarkable in your story, you'd better give us a few solid
facts. We might not look at it just as you do."

"Duncan Campbell was the laird of Inverawe Castle in the Highlands, and
with us was called, from his estate, Inverawe. One evening he heard a
knocking at his door, and, opening it, saw a stranger with torn clothes
and his hands and kilt smeared with blood. He said that he had killed a
man in a quarrel and that men were after him in order to slay him. He
asked for shelter. Inverawe promised to conceal him. The man said,
'Swear it on your dirk,' and Inverawe did so. He hid the man in a secret
room in his castle. Soon after there was a knocking at his gate, and two
men entered.

"'Your cousin Donald has just been murdered, and we are looking for the
murderer.' Inverawe couldna go back on his oath, and said he kenned
naught of the fugitive; and the men kept on in pursuit. He lay down in a
dark room, and went to sleep. Waking up, he saw the ghost of his cousin
Donald by his bedside, and heard him say:--

"'Inverawe! Inverawe! Blood has been shed. Shield not the murderer.'
When the morning came, he went to the man and told him he could conceal
him no longer.

"'You have sworn on your dirk,' the man replied. The laird didna know
what to do. He led the man to a mountain, and hid him in a cave, and
told him he wouldna betray him.

[Sidenote: INVERAWE'S FATE FORETOLD]

"The next night his cousin Donald appeared to him again, and said,
'Inverawe! Inverawe! Blood has been shed. Shield not the murderer.'

"When the sun ca