uld never do it again, if they would only let
you off--"

"Oh, Jean, Jean, ye're a gowk, for that was twa lees ye telt him!"
interrupted Black, with a short sarcastic laugh; "for I'm no' a bit
sorry for what I've done; an' I'll do't ower again if ever I git the
chance. Ne'er heed, lass, you've done your best. An' hoo's mither an'
Mrs. Wallace?"

"They're baith weel; but awfu' cast doon aboot you, an'--an'--Wull and
Quentin. An'--I had maist forgot--Peter has turned up safe an' soond.
He says that--"

"Come, cut short your haverin'," said the sentinel who had been induced
to favour Jean, partly because of her sweet innocent face, and partly
because of the money which Mrs. Black had given her to bribe him.

"Weel, tell Peter," said Black hurriedly, "to gang doon to the ferm an'
see if he can find oot onything aboot Marion Clerk an' Isabel Scott.
I'm wae for thae lassies. They're ower guid to let live in peace at a
time like this. Tell him to tell them frae me to flee to the hills.
Noo that the hidy-hole is gaen, there's no' a safe hoose in a' the land,
only the caves an' the peat-bogs, and even they are but puir
protection."

"Uncle dear, is not the Lord our hiding-place until these calamities be
overpast?" said Jean, while the tears that she could not suppress ran
down her cheeks.

"Ye're right, bairn. God forgi'e my want o' faith. Rin awa' noo. I
see the sentry's getting wearied. The Lord bless ye."

The night chanced to be very dark. Rain fell in torrents, and wind in
fitful gusts swept among the tombs, chilling the prisoners to the very
bone. It is probable that the guards would, for their own comfort, have
kept a slack look-out, had not their own lives depended a good deal on
their fidelity. As it was, the vigil was not so strict as it might have
been; and they found it impossible to see the whole of that long narrow
space of ground in so dark a night. About midnight the sentry fancied
he saw three figures flitting across the yard. Putting his musket
through the bars of the gate he fired at once, but could not see whether
he had done execution; and so great was the noise of the wind and rain
that the report of his piece was not audible more than a few paces from
where he stood, except to leeward. Alarms were too frequent in those
days to disturb people much. A few people, no doubt, heard the shot;
listened, perchance, for a moment or two, and then, turning in their
warm beds, continued their