aying at hiding. Nearly had I cried
out the seeking signal; aye, and would have done it, too, but for the
little rattle of arms when the sentry turned sharp at the corner of the
house, with a click of his heels and a jingle of his spurs. The house of
Earlstoun stands very near the water edge, with nothing about it save
the green hawthorn-studded croft on the one hand, and the thick wood on
the other.

I lay a long while watching the house to see if I could discover any one
at the windows. But not even a lounging soldier could I discern
anywhere, except the single clinking loon who kept the guard. Once Jean
Hamilton, Sandy's wife, came to the window; and once her little
daughter, Alison, shook a tablecloth over the sash--a sight which
cheered me greatly, for by it I knew that there was still folk could eat
a meal of meat within the towers of Earlstoun.

But more and more the desire for the sweet well water of the gateway
tower, came to me as I lay parched with thirst, and more than the former
yearning for home things. It seemed that no wine of sunny France, no
golden juice of Zeres could ever be one-half so sweet as the water of
that Earlstoun well, "that is beside the Gate."

Aye, and I declare I would have grappled with the sentry for it, save
that I had the remnants of some sense left about me, which told me that
so I should not only bring destruction upon myself, but on others that
were even more dear to me.

Presently I heard the voice of a serving lass calling from within the
courtyard, and at the sound the sentry listened and waited. He looked
furtively this way and that round the corners. He stood a moment in the
shade of the archways and wiped his brow. Then he leaned his musket
against the wall and went within. I thought to myself, "It is now or
never, for he is gone to the kitchen for a bite-and-sup, and will be out
again in a moment, lest his captain should return and find him gone from
his post."

So with that I made a rush swiftly round the corner, and entered the
well-house. For a moment only, as I ran fleet-foot, was I bathed in the
hot sunshine, then drenched again in the damp, cool darkness of the
tower. Within there is an iron handle and chain, which are used to wrap
up the great dipper over the windlass. There is also a little dipper
which one may let down by a rope, when only a drink or a little
household water is needed, and there is no servitor at hand to turn the
crank. This last I let down,