, for the
judgment passed upon him in lawful assize was one which he dared not
attempt to evade. To Scalpsie, therefore, he wended his steps without
even going homeward to Kilmory to doff the fine attire which he had
assumed for the occasion of his presentation to King Alexander, and
there, drawing his plaid over his shoulders, he paced to and fro in the
dark night -- from the sheepfold to the steadings and from the steadings
back to the sheepfold.

Weary work it was in sooth, and much did he deplore the laws that made
it binding upon one of gentle blood to thus demean himself. He listened
to the mournful sound of the waves on the shore, broken sometimes by the
bleating of a restless sheep in the fold. Soon he began to feel his
eyelids getting very heavy, and he sought about for a soft bed of
heather to lie down upon for a while. As he was about to curl himself up
-- trusting that if any night-prowling beast should come to play havoc
among the farm stock the noise of the sheep and goats would surely
awaken him -- he heard footsteps approaching.

"So, my young watchdog," said the voice of the farmer Blair, "you have
bethought yourself of your charge at last, eh? Well is it for you that
you have not neglected my sheep this night as you did last. No more
shall you send that sleepy-headed lad Lulach to be your proxy, for his
sleeping cost me the life of one of my best ewe lambs. So look you well
to your charge now. Here is a cake of bread to keep you from hunger, and
a flagon of good posset to keep you warm -- 'tis your nightly allowance.
And if it so be that you get drowsy, why, sing yourself a song as do the
shipmen in their night watches. But mind you this, young Kilmory, that
for every beast I lose through the slaying of my dog, your father, Sir
Oscar Redmain, shall pay me another of equal value."

"Look you, David Blair," said Allan warmly, "it is not thus that I will
be your watchdog for many nights. The task, I well know, is but a lawful
judgment upon me for my offence, but you have no manner of right to say
that I shall send no proxy. If it please me to send Lulach, then the lad
shall come, and I will pay him for his work. But to come here myself as
often as you please, that I shall not do."

"If Lulach lose me my sheep he cannot return full value for them," said
Blair, bethinking himself of his own interests, "whereas if they be lost
by your unwatchfulness, then can I duly claim my own from your father."

"Why