"To cut this matter short," said Sir Duncan, with an expression

of voice and countenance somewhat agitated, "it is unnecessary
for you to tell me, Captain Dalgetty, that a castle may be

stormed if it is not valorously defended, or surprised if it is
not heedfully watched. I trust this poor house of mine will not

be found in any of these predicaments, should even Captain
Dalgetty himself choose to beleaguer it."

"For all that, Sir Duncan," answered the persevering commander,
"I would premonish you, as a friend, to trace out a sconce upon

that round hill, with a good graffe, or ditch, whilk may be
easily accomplished by compelling the labour of the boors in the

vicinity; it being the custom of the valorous Gustavus Adolphus
to fight as much by the spade and shovel, as by sword, pike, and

musket. Also, I would advise you to fortify the said sconce, not
only by a foussie, or graffe, but also by certain stackets, or

palisades."--(Here Sir Duncan, becoming impatient, left the
apartment, the Captain following him to the door, and raising his

voice as he retreated, until he was fairly out of hearing.)--"The
whilk stackets, or palisades, should be artificially framed with

re-entering angles and loop-holes, or crenelles, for musketry,
whereof it shall arise that the foeman--The Highland brute! the

old Highland brute! They are as proud as peacocks, and as
obstinate as tups--and here he has missed an opportunity of

making his house as pretty an irregularfortification as an
invading army ever broke their teeth upon.--But I see," he

continued, looking own from the window upon the bottom of the
precipice, "they have got Gustavus safe ashore--Proper fellow! I

would know that toss of his head among a whole squadron. I must
go to see what they are to make of him."

He had no sooner reached, however, the court to the seaward, and
put himself in the act of descending the staircase, than two

Highland sentinels, advancing their Lochaber axes, gave him to
understand that this was a service of danger.

"Diavolo!" said the soldier, "and I have got no pass-word. I
could not speak a syllable of their salvage gibberish, an it were

to save me from the provost-marshal."
"I will be your surety, Captain Dalgetty," said Sir Duncan, who

had again approached him without his observing from whence; "and
we will go together, and see how your favourite charger is

accommodated."
He conducted him accordingly down the staircase to the beach, and

from thence by a short turn behind a large rock, which concealed
the stables and other offices belonging to the castle, Captain

Dalgetty became sensible, at the same time, that the side of the
castle to the land was rendered totallyinaccessible by a ravine,

partly natural and partly scarped with great care and labour, so
as to be only passed by a drawbridge. Still, however, the

Captain insisted, not withstanding the triumphant air with which
Sir Duncan pointed out his defences, that a sconce should be

erected on Drumsnab, the round eminence to the east of the
castle, in respect the house might be annoyed from thence by

burning bullets full of fire, shot out of cannon, according to
the curious invention of Stephen Bathian, King of Poland, whereby

that prince utterly ruined the great Muscovite city of Moscow.
This invention, Captain Dalgetty owned, he had not yet witnessed,

but observed, "that it would give him particular delectation to
witness the same put to the proof against Ardenvohr, or any other

castle of similar strength;" observing, "that so curious an
experiment could not but afford the greatest delight to all

admirers of the military art."
Sir Duncan Campbell diverted this conversation by carrying the

soldier into his stables, and suffering him to arrange Gustavus
according to his own will and pleasure. After this duty had been

carefully performed, Captain Dalgetty proposed to return to the
castle, observing, it was his intention to spend the time betwixt

this and dinner, which, he presumed, would come upon the parade
about noon, in burnishing his armour, which having sustained some

injury from the sea-air, might, he was afraid, seem discreditable
in the eyes of M'Callum More. Yet, while they were returning to

the castle, he failed not to warn Sir Duncan Campbell against the
great injury he might sustain by any sudden onfall of an enemy,

whereby his horses, cattle, and granaries, might be cut off and
consumed, to his great prejudice; wherefore he again strongly

conjured him to construct a sconce upon the round hill called
Drumsnab, and offered his own friendly services in lining out the

same. To this disinterested advice Sir Duncan only replied by
ushering his guest to his apartment, and informing him that the

tolling of the castle bell would make him aware when dinner was
ready.

CHAPTER XI.
Is this thy castle, Baldwin? Melancholy

Displays her sable banner from the donjon,
Darkening the foam of the whole surge beneath.

Were I a habitant, to see this gloom
Pollute the face of nature, and to hear

The ceaseless sound of wave, and seabird's scream,
I'd wish me in the hut that poorest peasant

E'er framed, to give him temporary shelter. BROWN.
The gallant Ritt-master would willingly have employed his leisure

in studying the exterior of Sir Duncan's castle, and verifying
his own military ideas upon the nature of its defences. But a

stout sentinel, who mounted guard with a Lochaber-axe at the door
of his apartment, gave him to understand, by very significant

signs, that he was in a sort of honourable captivity.
It is strange, thought the Ritt-master to himself, how well these

salvages understand the rules and practique of war. Who should
have pre-supposed their acquaintance" target="_blank" title="n.相识；熟人，相识的人">acquaintance with the maxim of the great

and godlike Gustavus Adolphus, that a flag of truce should be
half a messenger half a spy?--And, having finished burnishing his

arms, he sate down patiently to compute how much half a dollar
per diem would amount to at the end of a six-months' campaign;

and, when he had settled that problem, proceeded to the more
abstruse calculations necessary for drawing up a brigade of two

thousand men on the principle of extracting the square root.
From his musings, he was roused by the joyful sound of the dinner

bell, on which the Highlander, lately his guard, became his
gentleman-usher, and marshalled him to the hall, where a table

with four covers bore ample proofs of Highland hospitality. Sir
Duncan entered, conducting his lady, a tall, faded, melancholy

female, dressed in deep mourning. They were followed by a
Presbyterian clergyman, in his Geneva cloak, and wearing a black

silk skull-cap, covering his short hair so closely, that it could
scarce be seen at all, so that the unrestricted ears had an undue

predominance in the general aspect. This ungraceful fashion was
universal at the time, and partly led to the nicknames of

roundheads, prick-eared curs, and so forth, which the insolence
of the cavaliers liberally bestowed on their political enemies.

Sir Duncan presented his military guest to his lady, who received
his technicalsalutation with a stiff and silent reverence, in

which it could scarce be judged whether pride or melancholy had
the greater share. The churchman, to whom he was next presented,

eyed him with a glance of mingled dislike and curiosity.
The Captain, well accustomed to worse looks from more dangerous

persons, cared very little either for those of the lady or of the
divine, but bent his whole soul upon assaulting a huge piece of

beef, which smoked at the nether end of the table. But the
onslaught, as he would have termed it, was delayed, until the

conclusion of a very long grace, betwixt every section of which
Dalgetty handled his knife and fork, as he might have done his

musket or pike when going upon action, and as often resigned them
unwillingly when the prolix chaplain commenced another clause of

his benediction. Sir Duncan listened with decency, though he was
supposed rather to have joined the Covenanters out of devotion to

his chief, than real respect for the cause either of liberty or
of Presbytery. His lady alone attended to the blessing, with

symptoms of deep acquiescence.
The meal was performed almost in Carthusian silence; for it was