ich he was threatened. He was instantly seized on by Nixon and two
assistants, who, holding down his arms, and endeavouring to stop his
mouth, were about to hurry him away.

The honest Quaker, who had kept out of Redgauntlet's presence, now came
boldly forward.

'Friend,' said he, 'thou dost more than thou canst answer. Thou knowest
me well, and thou art aware that in me thou hast a deeply injured
neighbour, who was dwelling beside thee in the honesty and simplicity of
his heart.'

'Tush, Jonathan,' said Redgauntlet; 'talk not to me, man; it is neither
the craft of a young lawyer, nor the SIMPLICITY of an old hypocrite, can
drive me from my purpose.

'By my faith,' said the captain, coming forward in his turn, 'this is
hardly fair, general; and I doubt,' he added, 'whether the will of my
owners can make me a party to such proceedings. Nay, never fumble with
your sword-hilt, but out with it like a man, if you are for a tilting.'
He unsheathed his hanger, and continued--'I will neither see my comrade
Fairford, nor the old Quaker, abused. D----n all warrants, false or
true--curse the justice--confound the constable!--and here stands little
Nanty Ewart to make good what he says against gentle and simple, in
spite of horse-shoe or horse-radish either.'

The cry of 'Down with all warrants!' was popular in the ears of the
militia of the inn, and Nanty Ewart was no less so. Fishers, ostlers,
seamen, smugglers, began to crowd to the spot. Crackenthorp endeavoured
in vain to mediate. The attendants of Redgauntlet began to handle their
firearms; but their master shouted to them to forbear, and, unsheathing
his sword as quick as lightning, he rushed on Ewart in the midst of
his bravado, and struck his weapon from his hand with such address and
force, that it flew three yards from him. Closing with him at the same
moment, he gave him a severe fall, and waved his sword over his head, to
show he was absolutely at his mercy.

'There, you drunken vagabond,' he said, 'I give you your life--you are
no bad fellow if you could keep from brawling among your friends. But
we all know Nanty Ewart,' he said to the crowd around, with a forgiving
laugh, which, joined to the awe his prowess had inspired, entirely
confirmed their wavering allegiance.

They shouted, 'The laird for ever!' while poor Nanty, rising from the
earth, on whose lap he had been stretched so rudely, went in quest of
his hanger, lifted it, wiped it, and, as he returned