here, and that's how I ken," Fullarton
answered. "He was fou' one Saturday nicht and he went for a bet. He
didna like tae talk aboot it afterwards, and he wouldna tell a' what
befell him, but he was aye feared o' the very name. He's the first
Fullarton that's been at the Hole o' Cree, and he'll be the last for
me. If ye'll tak' my advice ye'll just gie the matter up and gang name
again, for there's na guid tae be got oot o' this place."

"We shall go on with you or without you," Mordaunt answered. "Let us
have your dog and we can pick you up on our way back."

"Na, na," he cried, "I'll no' hae my dog scaret wi' bogles, and running
down Auld Nick as if he were a hare. The dog shall bide wi' me."

"The dog shall go with us," said my companion, with his eyes blazing.
"We have no time to argue with you. Here's a five-pound note. Let us
have the dog, or, by Heaven, I shall take it by force and throw you in
the bog if you hinder us."

I could realise the Heatherstone of forty years ago when I saw the
fierce and sudden wrath which lit up the features of his son.

Either the bribe or the threat had the desired effect, for the fellow
grabbed at the money with one hand while with the other he surrendered
the leash which held the lurcher. Leaving him to retrace his steps, we
continued to make our way into the utmost recesses of the great swamp.

The tortuous path grew less and less defined as we proceeded, and was
even covered in places with water, but the increasing excitement of the
hound and the sight of the deep footmarks in the mud stimulated us to
push on. At last, after struggling through a grove of high bulrushes,
we came on a spot the gloomy horror of which might have furnished Dante
with a fresh terror for his "Inferno."

The whole bog in this part appeared to have sunk in, forming a great,
funnel-shaped depression, which terminated in the centre in a circular
rift or opening about forty feet in diameter. It was a whirlpool--a
perfect maelstrom of mud, sloping down on every side to this silent and
awful chasm.

Clearly this was the spot which, under the name of the Hole of Cree,
bore such a sinister reputation among the rustics. I could not wonder at
its impressing their imagination, for a more weird or gloomy scene, or
one more worthy of the avenue which led to it, could not be conceived.

The steps passed down the declivity which surrounded the abyss, and we
followed them with a sinking feeling in our hearts,