sp wi' me, for ye wad really
hae thought he kenn'd where I was gaun, puir beast; and here I am after a
trot o' sixty mile or near by. But Wasp rade thirty o' them afore me on
the saddle, and the puir doggie balanced itsell as ane of the weans wad
hae dune, whether I trotted or cantered.'

In this strange story Bertram obviously saw, supposing the warning to be
true, some intimation of danger more violent and imminent than could be
likely to arise from a few days' imprisonment. At the same time it was
equally evident that some unknown friend was working in his behalf. 'Did
you not say,' he asked Dinmont, 'that this man Gabriel was of gipsy
blood?'

'It was e'en judged sae,' said Dinmont, 'and I think this maks it likely;
for they aye ken where the gangs o' ilk ither are to be found, and they
can gar news flee like a footba' through the country an they like. An' I
forgat to tell ye, there's been an unco inquiry after the auld wife that
we saw in Bewcastle; the Sheriff's had folk ower the Limestane Edge after
her, and down the Hermitage and Liddel, and a' gates, and a reward
offered for her to appear o' fifty pound sterling, nae less; and Justice
Forster, he's had out warrants, as I am tell'd, in Cumberland; and an
unco ranging and ripeing they have had a' gates seeking for her; but
she'll no be taen wi' them unless she likes, for a' that.'

'And how comes that?' said Bertram.

'Ou, I dinna ken; I daur say it's nonsense, but they say she has gathered
the fern-seed, and can gang ony gate she likes, like Jock the
Giant-killer in the ballant, wi' his coat o' darkness and his shoon o'
swiftness. Ony way she's a kind o' queen amang the gipsies; she is mair
than a hundred year auld, folk say, and minds the coming in o' the
moss-troopers in the troublesome times when the Stuarts were put awa.
Sae, if she canna hide hersell, she kens them that can hide her weel
eneugh, ye needna doubt that. Od, an I had kenn'd it had been Meg
Merrilies yon night at Tibb Mumps's, I wad taen care how I crossed her.'

Bertram listened with great attention to this account, which tallied so
well in many points with what he had himself seen of this gipsy sibyl.
After a moment's consideration he concluded it would be no breach of
faith to mention what he had seen at Derncleugh to a person who held Meg
in such reverence as Dinmont obviously did. He told his story
accordingly, often interrupted by ejaculations, such as, 'Weel, the like
o' that now!' o