was turned half away from me, and it was
clear that he had not seen me at all, for he was staring with all his
eyes over in the direction of West Inch. As I advanced my foot rattled
the rubble that lay in the gateway, and he turned round with a start and
faced me.

He was not a man whom you could put out of countenance, and his face
changed no more than if he had been expecting me there for a
twelvemonth; but there was something in his eyes which let me know that
he would have paid a good price to have me back on the brae path again.

"Hullo!" said I, "what are you doing here?"

"I may ask you that," said he.

"I came up because I saw your face at the window."

"And I because, as you may well have observed, I have very much interest
for all that has to do with the military, and, of course, castles are
among them. You will excuse me for one moment, my dear Jack."

And he stepped out suddenly through the hole in the wall, so as to be
out of my sight.

But I was very much too curious to excuse him so easily. I shifted my
ground swiftly to see what it was that he was after. He was standing
outside, and waving his hand frantically, as in a signal.

"What are you doing?" I cried; and then, running out to his side, I
looked across the moors to see whom he was beckoning to.

"You go too far, sir," said he, angrily; "I didn't thought you would
have gone so far. A gentleman has the freedom to act as he choose
without your being the spy upon him. If we are to be friends, you must
not interfere in my affairs."

"I don't like these secret doings," said I, "and my father would not
like them either."

"Your father can speak for himself, and there is no secret," said he,
curtly. "It is you with your imaginings that make a secret. Ta, ta,
ta! I have no patience with such foolishness."

And without as much as a nod, he turned his back upon me, and started
walking swiftly to West Inch.

Well, I followed him, and in the worst of tempers; for I had a feeling
that there was some mischief in the wind, and yet I could not for the
life of me think what it all meant. Again I found myself puzzling over
the whole mystery of this man's coming, and of his long residence among
us. And whom could he have expected to meet at the Peel Tower? Was the
fellow a spy, and was it some brother spy who came to speak with him
there? But that was absurd. What could there be to spy about in
Berwickshire? And besides, Major Elliott kn