ame there's more to follow.
There should be no lowe on this side of the fort after nightfall, unless
the warders on the other side have news from the hills behind Dunchuach.
In this matter of fire at night Dunchuach echoes Ben Bhuidhe or Ben
Bhrec, and these two in their turn carry on the light of our friends
farther ben in Bredalbane and Cruachan. It's not a state secret to tell
you we were half feared some of our Antrim gentry might give us a call;
but the Worst Curse on the pigs who come guesting in such weather!"

He was glowering almost feverishly at the hill-top, and I turned round
to see that the busy room had no share in our apprehension. The only
eyes I found looking in our direction were those of Betty, who finding
herself observed, came over, blushing a little, and looked out into the
night.

"You were hiding the moonlight from me," she said with a smile, a remark
which struck me as curious, for she could not, from where she sat, see
out at the window.

"I never saw one who needed it less," said Splendid, and still he looked
intently at the mount. "You carry your own with you."

Having no need to bend, she saw the top of Dun-chuach whenever she got
close to the window, and by this time the light on it looked like a
planet, wan in the moonlight, but unusually large and angry.

"I never saw star so bright," said the girl, in a natural enough error.

"A challenge to your eyes, madam," retorted Splendid again, in a
raillery wonderful considering his anxiety, and he whispered in my
ear--"or to us to war."

As he spoke, the report of a big gun boomed through the frosty air from
Dunchuach to the plain, and the beacon flashed up, tall, flaunting, and
unmistakable.

John Splendid turned into the hall and raised his voice a little, to say
with no evidence of disturbance--

"There's something amiss up the glens, your ladyship."

The harp her ladyship strummed idly on at the moment had stopped on a
ludicrous and unfinished note, the hum of conversation ended abruptly.
Up to the window the company crowded, and they could see the balefire
blazing hotly against the cool light of the moon and the widely
sprinkled stars. Behind them in a little came Argile, one arm only
thrust hurriedly in a velvet jacket, his hair in a disorder, the pallor
of study on his cheek. He very gently pressed to the front, and looked
out with a lowering brow at the signal.

"Ay, ay!" he said in the English, after a pause that kept the r