onybody touched it he wadna wunner but it wad burn him to
the bane, comin' direc' frae sic a place as it had dootless loupit
frae.'

"This tickled me so terribly that I creepit a wee nearer to see the auld
tod's face, as he laid it aff to them aboot the deil's elshin an' his
leather knife--that had baith been bocht frae Rab Tamson, the hardware
man in the Vennel o' Dumfries, an' wasna payed for yet! When what d'ye
think happened?

"Na, ye couldna guess--weel, I creepit maybe a hair ower near the edge.
The auld rotten board gied way wi' me, an' doon Birsay fell amang the
peats on the hearthstane, landin' on my hinderlands wi' a _brange_ that
nearly brocht the hoose doon. I gaed yae skelloch as I fell, but,
gracious me," said Birsay, waving his hands, "that was as naething to
the scraich that the fowk aboot the fire gied. They scattered like a
flock o' wild deuks when a chairge o' shot splairges amang them. They
thocht the ill auld boy was comed into the midst o' them, an' wi' yae
consent they made for the door. Jock Wabster took the hill baa-haain'
like a calf as he ran, and even bauld Auld Anton stood by the door cheek
wi' his sword point atween him an' the deil whummelt on his hearthstane!

"But I didna bide lang amang the reed peats, as ye may guess. I was
scramblin' oot, whan the auld man gruppit me by the cuff o' the neck,
an', maybes because he had been a kennin' frichtit himsel', he gied puir
Birsay an awesome warm pair o' lugs. He near dang me stupit. Gin I had
gane to the laft to escape Effectual Callin', he didna scruple to gie me
Effectual Daudin', an' that without ony speerin' or as muckle's a single
reason annexed!"

"And what," I said, "came o' Jock Wabster?"

"'Deed as for Jock," said Birsay, "thereupon he got great experience o'
religion and gaed to join John Gib and his company on the Flowe o' the
Deer-Slunk, where Maister Lennox vanquished them. But he didna catch
Jock, for Jock said gin he had beat the deil flat-fit in a race, he
wasna feared for any Lennox o' the squad. But Jock was aye ower great
wi' the weemen folk, an' sae John Gib's notions just suited him."

Here Birsay made an end of his story, for Anton Lennox himself came in,
and of him Birsay stood in great and wholesome awe.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE SANQUHAR DECLARATION.

I think it was during the week I lay thus in the barn at the Duchrae,
often with Richard Cameron or his young brother Michael at my back in
the quiet of the