the door and let him
in. She looked at him in the light shed by her homely candle. His brow
was amuck with sweat: he was trembling in every limb; his ears were
scarlet.

"What has happened?"

"I am pursued," he replied, hoarse with exertion and weariness. "Hide
me, bonnie lassie, hide me, hide me!"

Quick as thought, Maggie hid him behind the door, and not a moment too
soon. Then she displayed that strength of will and courage which was to
stamp her as a heroine for all time. There came a fresh hammering on the
door. Maggie opened it defiantly, and never flinched at the sight of so
many brawny men; she only wrapped her plaidie more tightly round her.

"We want Bonnie Prince Charlie," said the leader, in Scotch.

Then came Maggie's well-known answer, also in Scotch.

"Know you not that this is a manse?"

History has it that the man fell back as though struck, and one by one,
awed by the still purity of the white-faced girl, the legions departed
into the night whence they had come. Thus Maggie McWhistle proved
herself the saviour of Bonnie Prince Charlie for the first time.

There were many occasions after that in which she was able to prove
herself a heroine for his sake. She would conceal him up the chimney or
in the oven at the slightest provocation. Soon there were no trees for
thirty miles round in which she had not hidden him at some period or
another.[21]

Poor Maggie--perchance she is finding in heaven the peaceful rest which
was so lacking in her life on earth. For legend hath it that she never
had two consecutive nights' sleep for fifteen years, so busy was she
saving Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Then came that great deed which even now finds an exultant echo in the
heart of every true Scotsman--that deed which none but a bonnie, hardy
Highland lassie could have got away with.... You all know of the massing
of James' troops at Carlisle, and later at Glasgow, and later still at
Aberdeen. Poor Prince Charlie--so sonsie and braw, a fugitive in his own
land--he fled to Loch Morich, followed by Maggie McWhistle in her
plaidie, carrying some haggis and baps to comfort him in his exile.
History is rather hazy as to exactly what happened; but anyhow, Maggie,
with the tattered banner of her country fast unfurling in her heart,
decided to save her hero for the last time; and it was well she did not
tarry longer, for he was sore pressed. History relates that two tears
fell from his eyes on to the shore.[22] Then Ma