Pearson. "Give me the
money, and I will settle the matter with Jock McKillock, and the cattle
shall be driven south as safely as if you were at their tails."

Jack could not help feeling considerable hesitation as to the propriety
of yielding to Pearson's proposal. Honest and unsuspicious as he was
himself, great doubt had crossed his mind as to the character of his
companion. To be sure, if he persisted in continuing his journey, and
endeavouring to meet Jock McKillock, he very likely might be
apprehended, and in that case he would certainly lose the money in his
possession; but then if Pearson was not honest, it would equally be
lost. The latter saw by the working of his countenance, the doubts that
were crossing his mind.

"You hesitate to give me the cash," he observed. "You are perfectly
right; at the same time, I promise you that it shall be properly spent
for the advantage of your employer. Oaths are like pie-crusts, too
often only made to be broken, therefore I will not swear what I will do:
but accept the promise of a man who wishes you well, and you will have
no cause to regret having trusted me."

Jack at length, seeing that there was no help for it, agreed to
Pearson's proposal, and, though not without some reluctance, handed him
over the money for the proposed purchase of cattle.

"It is safer in my pocket than in yours, let me tell you, Master Deane,"
said Pearson, as he stowed it away in his leathern pouch. "There
breathes not the man on either side of the border who would attempt to
take it from me."

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

ADVENTURES AT THE HAGG.

"There is ne'er use fashing yourself, my young friend, about the
matter," observed Pearson, in his usual unconcerned manner, "many as
pretty a man as yourself has been in a far worse difficulty, and my
advice now to you is to make the best of it. I could hide you away
among the mountains in the north, where, should every man in Dutch
William's army be sent out on the search, they could not find you; but,
I'm thinking, a lad of your spirit would not be altogether satisfied
with that sort of life. Better far come with me south. There will soon
be work for you to do in that quarter, such as will be more suitable to
your taste, I'm thinking, than following at the heels of a drove of
bullocks. I own a dairy-farm in the fens of Lincolnshire, where I have
a wife and daughter, and am known as a steady, quiet-going farmer, who,
may be, has a little