found her disabled, and under cover of the smoke escaped with his crew,
and as much goods as they could save, into the cavern, where they
proposed to lie till nightfall. Hatteraick himself, his mate Vanbeest
Brown, and three others, of whom the declarant was one, went into the
adjacent woods to communicate with some of their friends in the
neighbourhood. They fell in with Kennedy unexpectedly, and Hatteraick and
Brown, aware that he was the occasion of their disasters, resolved to
murder him. He stated that he had seen them lay violent hands on the
officer and drag him through the woods, but had not partaken in the
assault nor witnessed its termination; that he returned to the cavern by
a different route, where he again met Hatteraick and his accomplices; and
the captain was in the act of giving an account how he and Brown had
pushed a huge crag over, as Kennedy lay groaning on the beach, when
Glossin suddenly appeared among them. To the whole transaction by which
Hatteraick purchased his secrecy he was witness. Respecting young
Bertram, he could give a distinct account till he went to India, after
which he had lost sight of him until he unexpectedly met with him in
Liddesdale. Gabriel Faa farther stated that he instantly sent notice to
his aunt Meg Merrilies, as well as to Hatteraick, who he knew was then
upon the coast; but that he had incurred his aunt's displeasure upon the
latter account. He concluded, that his aunt had immediately declared that
she would do all that lay in her power to help young Ellangowan to his
right, even if it should be by informing against Dirk Hatteraick; and
that many of her people assisted her besides himself, from a belief that
she was gifted with supernatural inspirations. With the same purpose, he
understood his aunt had given to Bertram the treasure of the tribe, of
which she had the custody. Three or four gipsies, by the express command
of Meg Merrilies, mingled in the crowd when the custom-house was
attacked, for the purpose of liberating Bertram, which he had himself
effected. He said, that in obeying Meg's dictates they did not pretend to
estimate their propriety or rationality, the respect in which she was
held by her tribe precluding all such subjects of speculation. Upon
farther interrogation, the witness added, that his aunt had always said
that Harry Bertram carried that round his neck which would ascertain his
birth. It was a spell, she said, that an Oxford scholar had made f