w,
Andie," says I, with a smile, "I think it was very wisely chosen."

"The truth is, I have nae goo for Neil," says Andie, "nor he for me, I'm
thinking; and I would like ill to come to my hands wi' the man. Tam
Anster will make a better hand of it with the cattle, onyway." (For this
man, Anster, came from Fife, where the Gaelic is still spoken.) "Ay,
ay!" says Andie, "Tam'll can deal wi' them the best. And troth! the mair
I think of it, the less I see what way we would be required. The
place--ay, feggs! they had forgot the place. Eh, Shaws, ye're a
lang-heided chield when ye like! Forbye that I'm awing ye my life," he
added, with more solemnity, and offered me his hand upon the bargain.

Whereupon, with scarce more words, we stepped suddenly on board the
boat, cast off, and set the lug. The Gregara were then busy upon
breakfast, for the cookery was their usual part; but, one of them
stepping to the battlements, our flight was observed before we were
twenty fathoms from the rock; and the three of them ran about the ruins
and the landing-shelf, for all the world like ants about a broken nest,
hailing and crying on us to return. We were still in both the lee and
the shadow of the rock, which last lay broad upon the waters, but
presently came forth in almost the same moment into the wind and
sunshine; the sail filled, the boat heeled to the gunwale, and we swept
immediately beyond sound of the men's voices. To what terrors they
endured upon the rock, where they were now deserted without the
countenance of any civilised person or so much as the protection of a
Bible, no limit can be set, nor had they any brandy left to be their
consolation, for even in the haste and secrecy of our departure Andie
had managed to remove it.

It was our first care to set Anster ashore in a cove by the Glenteithy
Rocks, so that the deliverance of our maroons might be duly seen to the
next day. Thence we kept away up Firth. The breeze, which was then so
spirited, swiftly declined, but never wholly failed us. All day we kept
moving, though often not much more; and it was after dark ere we were up
with the Queen's Ferry. To keep the letter of Andie's engagement (or
what was left of it) I must remain on board, but I thought no harm to
communicate with the shore in writing. On Prestongrange's cover, where
the Government seal must have a good deal surprised my correspondent, I
writ, by the boat's lantern, a few necessary words, and Andie carried
t