and in your power, to defend her; and how, sirrah, have ye
dared to desert her, and leave her sorrowing for you?"

"I thought, faither," answered he, "that the best way to defend her, would
be to prevent the enemy approaching near to our dwellings."

My comrades round about that heard this answer, could not refrain from
giving three cheers in admiration of the bravery of the laddie's spirit;
and the cheering attracting the attention of the officers, one of them came
forward to us, to inquire into its cause; and, on its being explained to
him, he took Robin by the hand, and congratulated me upon having such a
son. I confess that I did feel an emotion of pride and gratification
glowing in my breast at the time; nevertheless, the fears and the anxiety
of a parent predominated, and I thought what a dreadful thing it would be
for me, his father, to see him shot or pierced through the body with a
bayonet, at my very side; and what account, thought I, could I give of such
a transaction to his bereaved and sorrowing mother? For I felt a something
within my breast, which whispered, that, if evil befell him in the warfare
in which we were about to engage, I would not be able to look her in the
face again. I fancied that I heard her upbraiding me with having instilled
into his mind a love of war, and I fancied that I heard her voice requiring
his life at my hands, and crying--"Where is my son?"

At length we arrived at Haddington; and there, in the course of the day, it
was discovered, to the gratification of some and the disappointment of
many, that our march had originated in a _false alarm_. I do confess that I
was amongst those who felt gratified that the peace of the land was not to
be endangered, but that we were to return every man to his own fireside,
and to sit down beneath our vine and our fig tree, with the olive branches
twining between them. But amongst those who were disappointed, and who
shewed their chagrin by the gnashing of their teeth, was my silly laddie,
my only son Robert. When he saw the people laughing in the marketplace, and
heard that the whole Borders had been aroused by an accidental light upon a
hill, his young brow lowered as black as midnight--his whole body trembled
with a sort of smothered rage--and his eyebrows drew together until the
shape of a horse-shoe was engraven between them.

"Robie, my captain," said I, "wherefore are ye looking sae dour? Man, ye
ought to rejoice that no invader as yet h