nd, having leisurely
examined the priming and the flint, placed the muzzle in the lock.

"Be quick, sir, be quick!" said Wylie; "the place is filling with
smoke!"

And so it was: the crackling of the thatch, and the dense masses of
black smoke that filled the cabin, showed that the work of destruction
was begun.

"Here, then: this is to put the seal to your lease, Peter," said
Hemsworth, as he pulled the trigger.

A quick report followed, and then a crashing sound, as of splintered
timber, and, sudden as the lightning flash itself, a noise burst forth
louder than thunder, and at the same moment the house, and all that were
in it, were blown into the air, while the massive rock was shattered
from its base, full fifty feet up above the road. Report after report
followed, each accompanied by some new and fearful explosion, until at
length a great portion of the cliff was rent asunder, and scattered in
huge fragments across the road, where, amid the crumbling masonry and
the charred rafters, lay four black and lifeless bodies, without a trait
which should distinguish one from the other.

All was silent on the spot, but through every glen in the mountains the
echoing sounds sent back in redoubled peals the thunder of that dreadful
explosion, and through many a far-off valley rung out that last requiem
over the dead.

For some time the timbers and the thatch continued to burn, emitting
at intervals lurid bursts of flame, as more combustible matter met the
fire, while now and then a great report, and a sudden explosion, would
announce that some hitherto untouched store of powder became ignited,
until, as day was breaking, the flames waned and died out, leaving the
rent rocks and the ruined cabin the sad memorials of the event.

Nor were these the only occurrences of which the glen was that night
the witness. Mark, his brain burning for the moment when the fray should
commence, rode on amid the storm, the crashing branches and the loud
brawling torrents seeming to arouse the wild spirit within him, and lash
his enthusiasm even to madness. The deafening clamour of the hurricane
increased, as he came nearer the Bay, where the sea, storm-lashed and
swollen, beat on the rocks with a din like artillery.

But louder far than all other sounds were the minute peals of cannon
from the Bay, making the deep valleys ring with their clangour, and
sending their solemn din into many a far-off glen.

"They are coming! they are comin