the household, gasped--the blood forsook his cheeks, his knees
involuntarily knocked one against another, and he stammered out--

"For Heaven's sake, gie me my chronometer!--Oh, gie me it!--we are a'
ruined!"

"It canna be returned till the spell's completed," rejoined Elspeth, in
a solemn and determined tone--and her countenance betrayed nothing of
her dupe's uneasiness; while her husband deliberately placed his right
hand upon a sort of dagger which he wore beneath a large coarse jacket
that was loosely flung over his shoulders. The males in his retinue,
who were eight in number, followed his example.

In another moment, the laird, with wrath upon his countenance, burst
into the hall.

"Andrew Smith," cried he, sternly, and stamping his foot fiercely on the
floor, "what scene is this I see? Answer me, ye robber, answer me;--ye
shall hang for it!"

"O sir! sir!" groaned Andrew, "mercy!--mercy!--O sir!" and he wrung his
hands together and shook exceedingly.

"Ye fause knave!" continued the laird, grasping him by the neck--and
dashing him from him, Andrew fell flat upon the floor, and his terror
had almost shook him from his feet before--"Speak, ye fause knave!"
resumed the laird; "what means your carousin' wi' sic a gang? Ye robber,
speak!" And he kicked him with his foot as he lay upon the ground.

"O sir!--mercy, sir!" vociferated Andrew, in the stupor and wildness of
terror; "I canna speak!--ye hae killed me outright! I am dead--stone
dead! But it wasna my blame--they'll a' say that, if they speak the
truth."

"Out! out, ye thieves!--ye gang o' plunderers, born to the gallows!--out
o' my house!" added the laird, addressing Willie Faa and his followers.

"Thieves! ye acred loon!" exclaimed the Faa king, starting to his feet,
and drawing himself up to his full height--"wha does the worm that
burrows in the lands o' Clennel ca' thieves? Thieves, say ye!--speak
such words to your equals, but no to me. Your forebears came ower wi'
the Norman, invaded the nation, and seized upon land--mine invaded it
also, and only laid a tax upon the flocks, the cattle, and the
poultry--and wha ca' ye thieves?--or wi' what grace do ye speak the
word?"

"Away, ye audacious vagrant!" continued the laird; "ken ye not that the
king's authority is in my hands?--and for your former plunderings, if I
again find you setting foot upon ground o' mine, on the nearest tree ye
shall find a gibbet."

"Boast awa--boast awa, man," said Wil