end the horsemen back to their
post, cannily and quietly; see an they winna hae wark the night, ay will
they: the guns will flash and the swords will glitter in the braw moon.'

'Good God! what do you mean?' said young Hazlewood; 'your words and
manner would persuade me you are mad, and yet there is a strange
combination in what you say.'

'I am not mad!' exclaimed the gipsy; 'I have been imprisoned for
mad--scourged for mad--banished for mad--but mad I am not. Hear ye,
Charles Hazlewood of Hazlewood: d'ye bear malice against him that wounded
you?'

'No, dame, God forbid; my arm is quite well, and I have always said the
shot was discharged by accident. I should be glad to tell the young man
so himself.'

'Then do what I bid ye,' answered Meg Merrilies, 'and ye 'll do him mair
gude than ever he did you ill; for if he was left to his ill-wishers he
would be a bloody corpse ere morn, or a banished man; but there's Ane
abune a'. Do as I bid you; send back the soldiers to Portanferry. There's
nae mair fear o' Hazlewood House than there's o' Cruffel Fell.' And she
vanished with her usual celerity of pace.

It would seem that the appearance of this female, and the mixture of
frenzy and enthusiasm in her manner, seldom failed to produce the
strongest impression upon those whom she addressed. Her words, though
wild, were too plain and intelligible for actual madness, and yet too
vehement and extravagant for sober-minded communication. She seemed
acting under the influence of an imagination rather strongly excited than
deranged; and it is wonderful how palpably the difference in such cases
is impressed upon the mind of the auditor. This may account for the
attention with which her strange and mysterious hints were heard and
acted upon. It is certain, at least, that young Hazlewood was strongly
impressed by her sudden appearance and imperative tone. He rode to
Hazlewood at a brisk pace. It had been dark for some time before he
reached the house, and on his arrival there he saw a confirmation of what
the sibyl had hinted.

Thirty dragoon horses stood under a shed near the offices, with their
bridles linked together. Three or four soldiers attended as a guard,
while others stamped up and down with their long broadswords and heavy
boots in front of the house. Hazlewood asked a non-commissioned officer
from whence they came.

'From Portanferry.'

'Had they left any guard there?'

'No; they had been drawn off by order of Si