rds were fastened by pegs to the ground. His feet were
fastened in the same way, and his mouth was stuffed full of wet seaweed.
Bude pulled out the improvised gag, cut the ropes, turned the face
upwards, and carefully dropped a little whisky from his flask into the
mouth. Blake opened his eyes.

'Where are my poems?' he asked.

'Where is Miss Macrae?' shrieked Merton in agony.

'Damn the midges,' said Blake (his face was hardly recognisable from
their bites). 'Oh, damn them all!' He had fainted again.

'She has been carried off,' groaned Merton. Bude and he did all that
they knew for poor Blake. They rubbed his ankles and wrists, they
administered more whisky, and finally got him to sit up. He scratched
his hands over his face and moaned, but at last he recovered full
consciousness. No sense could be extracted from him, and, as the boat
was now visible on its homeward track, Bude and Merton carried him down
to the cove, anxiously waiting Mr. Macrae.

He leaped ashore.

'Have you heard anything?' asked Bude.

'They saw a boat on the loch about seven o'clock,' said Mr. Macrae,
'coming from the head of it, touching here, and then pulling west, round
the cliff. They thought the crew Sabbath-breakers from the lodge at Alt
Garbh. What's that,' he cried, at last seeing Blake, who lay supported
against a rock, his eyes shut.

Merton rapidly explained.

'It is as I thought,' said Mr. Macrae resolutely. 'I knew it from the
first. They have kidnapped her for a ransom. Let us go home.'

Merton and Bude were silent; they, too, had guessed, as soon as they
discovered Blake. The girl was her father's very life, and they admired
his resolution, his silence. A gate was taken from its hinges, cloaks
were strewn on it, and Blake was laid on this ambulance.

Merton ventured to speak.

'May I take your boat, sir, across to the ferry, and send the fishermen
from the village to search each end of the loch on their side? It is
after midnight,' he added grimly. 'They will not refuse to go; it is
Monday.'

'I will accompany them,' said Bude, 'with your leave, Mr. Macrae, Merton
can search our side of the loch, he can borrow another boat at the
village in addition to yours. You, at the Castle, can organise the
measures for to-morrow.'

'Thank you both,' said Mr. Macrae. 'I should have thought of that. Thank
you, Mr. Merton, for the idea. I am a little dazed. There is the key of
the boat.'

Merton snatched