hackles, which were connected by a chain, at the distance of about four
feet, with a large iron ring, which travelled upon the bar we have
described. Thus a prisoner might shuffle along the length of the bar from
one side of the room to another, but could not retreat farther from it in
any other direction than the brief length of the chain admitted. When his
feet had been thus secured, the keeper removed his handcuffs and left his
person at liberty in other respects. A pallet-bed was placed close to the
bar of iron, so that the shackled prisoner might lie down at pleasure,
still fastened to the iron bar in the manner described.

Hatteraick had not been long in this place of confinement before Glossin
arrived at the same prison-house. In respect to his comparative rank and
education, he was not ironed, but placed in a decent apartment, under the
inspection of Mac-Guffog, who, since the destruction of the bridewell of
Portanferry by the mob, had acted here as an under-turnkey. When Glossin
was enclosed within this room, and had solitude and leisure to calculate
all the chances against him and in his favour, he could not prevail upon
himself to consider the game as desperate.

'The estate is lost,' he said, 'that must go; and, between Pleydell and
Mac-Morlan, they'll cut down my claim on it to a trifle. My
character--but if I get off with life and liberty I'll win money yet and
varnish that over again. I knew not of the gauger's job until the rascal
had done the deed, and, though I had some advantage by the contraband,
that is no felony. But the kidnapping of the boy--there they touch me
closer. Let me see. This Bertram was a child at the time; his evidence
must be imperfect. The other fellow is a deserter, a gipsy, and an
outlaw. Meg Merrilies, d-n her, is dead. These infernal bills! Hatteraick
brought them with him, I suppose, to have the means of threatening me or
extorting money from me. I must endeavour to see the rascal; must get him
to stand steady; must persuade him to put some other colour upon the
business.'

His mind teeming with schemes of future deceit to cover former villainy,
he spent the time in arranging and combining them until the hour of
supper. Mac-Guffog attended as turnkey on this occasion. He was, as we
know, the old and special acquaintance of the prisoner who was now under
his charge. After giving the turnkey a glass of brandy, and sounding him
with one or two cajoling speeches, Glossin made it h