--use it, and may it thrive with you as it hath done with me!"
"But I tell you," said Elliot, "it wasna about the gear that I

was consulting you,--it was a braw barn-yard, doubtless, and
thirty head of finer cattle there werena on this side of the

Catrail; but let the gear gang,--if ye could but gie me speerings
o' puir Grace, I would be content to be your slave for life, in

onything that didna touch my salvation. O, Elshie, speak, man,
speak!"

"Well, then," answered the Dwarf, as if worn out by his
importunity, "since thou hast not enough of woes of thine own,

but must needs seek to burden thyself with those of a partner,
seek her whom thou hast lost in the WEST."

"In the WEST? That's a wide word."
"It is the last," said the Dwarf, which I design to utter;" and

he drew the shutters of his window, leaving Hobbie to make the
most of the hint he had given.

The west! the west!--thought Elliot; the country is pretty quiet
down that way, unless it were Jock o' the Todholes; and he's ower

auld now for the like o' thae jobs.--West!--By My life, it must
be Westburnflat. "Elshie, just tell me one word. Am I right?

Is it Westburnflat? If I am wrang, say sae. I wadna like to
wyte an innocent neighbour wi' violence--No answer?--It must be

the Red Reiver--I didna think he wad hae ventured on me, neither,
and sae mony kin as there's o' us--I am thinking he'll hae some

better backing than his Cumberland friends.--Fareweel to you,
Elshie, and mony thanks--I downa be fashed wi' the siller e'en

now, for I maun awa' to meet my friends at the Trysting-place--
Sae, if ye carena to open the window, ye can fetch it in after

I'm awa'."
Still there was no reply.

"He's deaf, or he's daft, or he's baith; but I hae nae time to
stay to claver wi' him."

And off rode Hobbie Elliot towards the place of rendezvous which
he had named to his friends.

Four or five riders were already gathered at the Trysting pool.
They stood in close consultation together, while their horses

were permitted to graze among the poplars which overhung the
broad still pool. A more numerous party were seen coming from

the southward. It proved to be Earnscliff and his party, who had
followed the track of the cattle as far as the English border,

but had halted on the information that a considerable force was
drawn together under some of the Jacobite gentlemen in that

district, and there were tidings of insurrection in different
parts of Scotland. This took away from the act which had been

perpetrated the appearance of private animosity, or love of
plunder; and Earnscliff was now disposed to regard it as a

symptom of civil war. The young gentleman greeted Hobbie with
the most sinceresympathy, and informed him of the news he had

received.
"Then, may I never stir frae the bit," said Elliot, "if auld

Ellieslaw is not at the bottom o' the haill villainy! Ye see
he's leagued wi' the Cumberland Catholics; and that agrees weel

wi' what Elshie hinted about Westburnflat, for Ellieslaw aye
protected him, and he will want to harry and disarm the country

about his ain hand before he breaks out."
Some now remembered that the party of ruffians had been heard to

say they were acting for James VIII., and were charged to disarm
all rebels. Others had heard Westburnflat boast, in drinking

parties, that Ellieslaw would soon be in arms for the Jacobite
cause, and that he himself was to hold a command under him, and

that they would be bad neighbours for young Earnscliff; and all
that stood out for the established government. The result was a

strong belief that Westburnflat had headed the party under
Ellieslaw's orders; and they resolved to proceed instantly to the

house of the former, and, if possible, to secure his person.
They were by this time joined by so many of their dispersed

friends, that their number amounted to upwards of twenty
horsemen, well mounted, and tolerably, though variously, armed.

A brook, which issued from a narrow glen among the hills,
entered, at Westburnflat, upon the open marshy level, which,

expanding about half a mile in every direction, gives name to the
spot. In this place the character of the stream becomes changed,

and, from being a lively brisk-running mountain-torrent, it
stagnates, like a blue swollen snake, in dull deep windings,

through the swampy level. On the side of the stream, and nearly
about the centre of the plain, arose the tower of Westburnflat,

one of the few remaining strongholds formerly so numerous upon
the Borders. The ground upon which it stood was gently elevated

above the marsh for the space of about a hundred yards, affording
an esplanade of dry turf, which extended itself in the immediate

neighbourhood of the tower; but, beyond which, the surface
presented to strangers was that of an impassable and dangerous

bog. The owner of the tower and his inmates alone knew the
winding and intricate paths, which, leading over ground that was

comparatively sound, admitted visitors to his residence. But
among the party which were assembled under Earnscliff's

directions, there was more than one person qualified to act as a
guide. For although the owner's character and habits of life

were generally known, yet the laxity of feeling with respect to
property prevented his being looked on with the abhorrence with

which he must have been regarded in a more civilized country. He
was considered, among his more peaceable neighbours, pretty much

as a gambler, cock-fighter, or horse-jockey would be regarded at
the present day; a person, of course, whose habits were to be

condemned, and his society, in general, avoided, yet who could
not be considered as marked with the indelible infamy attached to

his profession, where laws have been habitually observed. And
their indignation was awakened against him upon this occasion,

not so much on account of the general nature of the transaction,
which was just such as was to be expected from this marauder, as

that the violence had been perpetrated upon a neighbour against
whom he had no cause of quarrel,--against a friend of their own,

--above all, against one of the name of Elliot, to which clan
most of them belonged. It was not, therefore, wonderful, that

there should be several in the band pretty well acquainted with
the locality of his habitation, and capable of giving such

directions and guidance as soon placed the whole party on the
open space of firm ground in front of the Tower of Westburnflat.

CHAPTER IX.
So spak the knicht; the geaunt sed,

Lend forth with the, the sely maid,
And mak me quile of the and sche;

For glaunsing ee, or brow so brent,
Or cheek with rose and lilye blent,

Me lists not ficht with the. ROMANCE OF THE FALCON.
The tower, before which the party now stood, was a small square

building, of the most gloomyaspect. The walls were of great
thickness, and the windows, or slits which served the purpose of

windows, seemed rather calculated to afford the defenders the
means of employing missile weapons, than for admitting air or

light to the apartments within. A small battlement projected
over the walls on every side, and afforded farther advantage of

defence by its niched parapet, within which arose a steep roof,
flagged with grey stones. A single turret at one angle, defended

by a door studded with huge iron nails, rose above the
battlement, and gave access to the roof from within, by the