a which Waverley gave him, offered to
show his gratitude by waiting a little distance along the road, and
"kittlin' the landlord's quarters wi' her skene-occle"--or, in other
words, setting a dagger in his back. Apparently Vich Ian Vohr's page
thought no more of such a deed than an ordinary English boy would have
thought of stealing an apple out of an orchard.

THE THIRD INTERLUDE--BEING MAINLY A FEW WORDS UPON HEROES

Among the listeners there was somewhat less
inclination than before to act this part of the
story. For one thing, the boys were righteously
indignant at the idea of any true hero being in
love--unless, indeed, he could carry off his bride
from the deck of a pirate vessel, cutlass in hand,
and noble words of daring on his lips.

As for the girls, well--they knew that the bushes
were dripping wet, and that if they set their feet
upon their native heath, they would certainly be
made to change their stockings as soon as they went
home. This was a severe discourager of romance.
There was nothing to prevent any one of them from
asking questions, however. _That_ was a business in
which they excelled.

"But why did the Highland people want to rebel,
anyway?" demanded Hugh John. "If I could have
hunted like that, and raided, and carried off
cattle, and had a castle with pipes playing and
hundreds of clansmen to drill, I shouldn't have
been such a soft as to rebel and get them all taken
away from me!"

"It was because they were loyal to their rightful
King," said Sweetheart, who is a Cavalier and a
Jacobite--in the intervals of admiring Cromwell,
and crying because they shot down the poor
Covenanters.

"_I_ think," said Sir Toady, who had been sitting
very thoughtful, "that they just liked to fight,
and King George would not let them. So they wanted
a king who would not mind. Same as us, you know. If
we are caught fighting in school, we get whipped,
but father lets us fight outside as much as we want
to. Besides, what did old Vich Ian Vohr want with
all these silly Highlanders, eating up everything
in his castle, if there were never any battles that
they could fight for him?"

This was certainly a very strong and practical
view, and so much impressed the others that they
sat a long while quiet, turning it over in their
minds.

"W