and a most portentous squint of the left eye, began,
after various contortions by way of courtesy to the Justice, to tell his
story, eking it out by sundry sly nods and knowing winks, which appeared
to bespeak an intimate correspondence of ideas between the narrator and
his principal auditor. 'Your honour sees I went down to yon place that
your honour spoke o', that's kept by her that your honour kens o', by the
sea-side. So says she, "What are you wanting here? ye'll be come wi' a
broom in your pocket frae Ellangowan?"--So says I, "Deil a broom will
come frae there awa, for ye ken," says I, "his honour Ellangowan himsell
in former times--"'

'Well, well,' said Glossin, 'no occasion to be particular, tell the
essentials.'

'Weel, so we sat niffering about some brandy that I said I wanted, till
he came in.'

'Who?'

'He!' pointing with his thumb inverted to the kitchen, where the prisoner
was in custody. 'So he had his griego wrapped close round him, and I
judged he was not dry-handed; so I thought it was best to speak proper,
and so he believed I was a Manks man, and I kept ay between him and her,
for fear she had whistled. And then we began to drink about, and then I
betted he would not drink out a quartern of Hollands without drawing
breath, and then he tried it, and just then Slounging Jock and Dick
Spur'em came in, and we clinked the darbies on him, took him as quiet as
a lamb; and now he's had his bit sleep out, and is as fresh as a May
gowan, to answer what your honour likes to speir.' This narrative,
delivered with a wonderful quantity of gesture and grimace, received at
the conclusion the thanks and praises which the narrator expected.

'Had he no arms?' asked the Justice.

'Ay, ay, they are never without barkers and slashers.'

'Any papers?'

'This bundle,' delivering a dirty pocket-book.

'Go downstairs then, Mac-Guffog, and be in waiting.' The officer left the
room.

The clink of irons was immediately afterwards heard upon the stair, and
in two or three minutes a man was introduced, handcuffed and fettered. He
was thick, brawny, and muscular, and although his shagged and grizzled
hair marked an age somewhat advanced, and his stature was rather low, he
appeared, nevertheless, a person whom few would have chosen to cope with
in personal conflict. His coarse and savage features were still flushed,
and his eye still reeled under the influence of the strong potation which
had proved the immediate caus