of this generousindignation; we cannot, unfortunately, do our

work without the assistance of those who act on baser motives
than our own. We cannot spare the assistance of such fellows as

our friend the soldado. To use the canting phrase of the saints
in the English Parliament, the sons of Zeruiah are still too many

for us."
"I must dissemble, then, as well as I can," said Lord Menteith,

"as I have hitherto done, upon your hint. But I wish the fellow
at the devil with all my heart."

"Ay, but still you must remember, my lord," resumed Anderson,
"that to cure the bite of a scorpion, you must crush another

scorpion on the wound--But stop, we shall be overheard."
From a side-door in the hall glided a Highlander into the

apartment, whose lofty stature and complete equipment, as well as
the eagle's feather in his bonnet, and the confidence of his

demeanour, announced to be a person of superior rank. He walked
slowly up to the table, and made no answer to Lord Menteith, who,

addressing him by the name of Allan, asked him how he did.
"Ye manna speak to her e'en now," whispered the old attendant.

The tall Highlander, sinking down upon the empty settle next the
fire, fixed his eyes upon the red embers and the huge heap of

turf, and seemed buried in profound abstraction. His dark eyes,
and wild and enthusiastic features, bore the air of one who,

deeply impressed with his own subjects of meditation, pays little
attention to exterior objects. An air of gloomyseverity, the

fruit perhaps of ascetic and solitary habits, might, in a
Lowlander, have been ascribed to religious fanaticism; but by

that disease of the mind, then so common both in England and the
Lowlands of Scotland, the Highlanders of this period were rarely

infected. They had, however, their own peculiar superstitions,
which overclouded the mind with thick-coming fancies, as

completely as the puritanism of their neighbours.
"His lordship's honour," said the Highland servant sideling up to

Lord Menteith, and speaking in a very low tone, "his lordship
manna speak to Allan even now, for the cloud is upon his mind."

Lord Menteith nodded, and took no farther notice of the reserved
mountaineer.

"Said I not," asked the latter, suddenly raising his stately
person upright, and looking at the domestic--"said I not that

four were to come, and here stand but three on the hall floor?"
"In troth did ye say sae, Allan," said the old Highlander, "and

here's the fourth man coming clinking in at the yett e'en now
from the stable, for he's shelled like a partan, wi' airn on back

and breast, haunch and shanks. And am I to set her chair up near
the Menteith's, or down wi' the honest gentlemen at the foot of

the table?"
Lord Menteith himself answered the enquiry, by pointing to a seat

beside his own.
"And here she comes," said Donald, as Captain Dalgetty entered

the hall; "and I hope gentlemens will all take bread and cheese,
as we say in the glens, until better meat be ready, until the

Tiernach comes back frae the hill wi' the southern gentlefolk,
and then Dugald Cook will show himself wi' his kid and hill

venison.''
In the meantime, Captain Dalgetty had entered the apartment, and

walking up to the seat placed next Lord Menteith, was leaning on
the back of it with his arms folded. Anderson and his companion

waited at the bottom of the table, in a respectful attitude,
until they should receive permission to seat themselves; while

three or four Highlanders, under the direction of old Donald, ran
hither and thither to bring additional articles of food, or stood

still to give attendance upon the guests.
In the midst of these preparations, Allan suddenly started up,

and snatching a lamp from the hand of an attendant, held it close
to Dalgetty's face, while he perused his features with the most

heedful and grave attention.
"By my honour," said Dalgetty, half displeased, as, mysteriously

shaking his head, Allan gave up the scrutiny--"I trow that lad
and I will ken each other when we meet again."

Meanwhile Allan strode to the bottom of the table, and having, by
the aid of his lamp, subjected Anderson and his companion to the

same investigation, stood a moment as if in deep reflection;
then, touching his forehead, suddenly seized Anderson by the arm,

and before he could offer any effectual resistance, half led and
half dragged him to the vacant seat at the upper end, and having

made a mute intimation that he should there place himself, he
hurried the soldado with the same unceremonious precipitation to

the bottom of the table. The Captain, exceedingly incensed at
this freedom, endeavoured to shake Allan from him with violence;

but, powerful as he was, he proved in the struggle inferior to
the giganticmountaineer, who threw him off with such violence,

that after reeling a few paces, he fell at full length, and the
vaulted hall rang with the clash of his armour. When he arose,

his first action was to draw his sword and to fly at Allan, who,
with folded arms, seemed to await his onset with the most

scornful indifference. Lord Menteith and his attendants
interposed to preserve peace, while the Highlanders, snatching

weapons from the wall, seemed prompt to increase the broil.
"He is mad," whispered Lord Menteith, "he is perfectly mad; there

is no purpose in quarrelling with him."
"If your lordship is assured that he is NON COMPOS MENTIS," said

Captain Dalgetty, "the whilk his breeding and behaviour seem to
testify, the matter must end here, seeing that a madman can

neither give an affront, nor render honourable satisfaction.
But, by my saul, if I had my provstnt and a bottle of Rhenish

under my belt, I should hive stood otherways up to him. And yet
it's a pity he should be sae weak in the intellectuals, being a

strong proper man of body, fit to handle pike, morgenstern, or
any other military implement whatsoever." [This was a sort of

club or mace, used in the earlier part of the seventeenth century
in the defence of breaches and walls. When the Germans insulted

a Scotch regiment then besieged in Trailsund, saying they heard
there was a ship come from Denmark to them laden with tobacco

pipes, "One of our soldiers," says Colonel Robert Munro, "showing
them over the work a morgenstern, made of a large stock banded

with iron, like the shaft of a halberd, with a round globe at the
end with cross iron pikes, saith, 'Here is one of the tobacco

pipes, wherewith we will beat out your brains when you intend to
storm us.'"]

Peace was thus restored, and the party seated themselves
agreeably to their former arrangement, with which Allan, who had

now returned to his settle by the fire, and seemed once more
immersed in meditation, did not again interfere. Lord Menteith,

addressing the principaldomestic, hastened to start some theme
of conversation which might obliterate all recollection of the

fray that had taken place. "The laird is at the hill then,
Donald, I understand, and some English strangers with him?"

"At the hill he is, an it like your honour, and two Saxon
calabaleros are with him sure eneugh; and that is Sir Miles

Musgrave and Christopher Hall, both from the Cumraik, as I think
they call their country."

"Hall and Musgrave?" said Lord Menteith, looking at his
attendants, "the very men that we wished to see."

"Troth," said Donald, "an' I wish I had never seen them between
the een, for they're come to herry us out o' house and ha'."

"Why, Donald," said Lord Menteith, "you did not use to be so
churlish of your beef and ale; southland though they be, they'll