g the lions
felled their two foremost adversaries. The two who followed them met a
similar fate. Thinking that four were sufficient to block the entry, at
least for a few moments, our heroes turned, unlionlike, and fled at a
pace that soon left the enemy far behind.

This delay had given time to Black and his other friends to make good
their retreat. Meanwhile Ramblin' Peter, taking advantage of the
confusion, wrenched himself suddenly free from the guard who held him,
and vanished down another close. The rescue having been effected, the
party purposely scattered. Black's leg, however, prevented him from
running fast. He therefore thought it best to double round a corner,
and dash into a doorway, trusting to having been unobserved. In this,
however, he was mistaken. His enemies, indeed, saw him not, but
Ramblin' Peter chanced to see him while at some distance off, and made
for the same place of refuge.

Springing up a spiral stair, three steps at a time, Black did not stop
till he gained the attics, and leaped through the open doorway of a
garret, where he found an old woman wailing over a bed on which lay the
corpse of a man with a coffin beside it.

"What want ye here?" demanded the old creature angrily.

"Wow! wumman, I'm hard pressed! They're at my heels!" said Black,
looking anxiously at the skylight as if meditating a still higher
flight.

"Are ye ane o' the persecuted remnant?" asked the woman in a changed
tone.

"Ay, that am I."

"Hide, then, hide, man--haste ye!"

"Where?" asked the perplexed fugitive. "There," said the woman,
removing the coffin lid. Andrew hesitated. Just then hurrying
footsteps were heard on the stair. He hesitated no longer. Stepping
into the coffin he lay down, and the woman covered him up.

"Oh, wumman!" said Black, lifting the lid a little, "tak' care ye dinna
meddle wi' the screw-nails. They may--"

"Wheesht! Haud yer tongue!" growled the woman sharply, and reclosed the
lid with a bang, just as Ramblin' Peter burst into the room.

"What want ye here, callant?"

Peter drew back in dismay.

"I'm lookin' for--I was thinkin'--Did 'ee see a man--?"

The lid of the coffin flew off as he spoke, and his master sprang out.

"Man, Peter," gasped the farmer, "yours is the sweetest voice I've heard
for mony a day. I verily thocht I was doomed--but come awa', lad.
Thank 'ee kindly, auld wife, for the temporary accommodation."

The intruders left as abruptly as t