I last saw him he was up at a windy, shootin'. I think he's
gotten on to the roof. I wouldna wonder but the place is on fire."

"Here, this is awful," Dickson groaned. "We can't let Mr. Heritage be
killed that way. What strength is the enemy?"

"I counted twenty-seven, and there's stragglers comin' up from the
boats."

"And there's me and you five laddies here, and Dougal and the others
shut up in the House."

He stopped in sheer despair. It was a fix from which the most
enlightened business mind showed no escape. Prudence, inventiveness,
were no longer in question; only some desperate course of violence.

"We must create a diversion," he said. "I'm for the Tower, and you
laddies must come with me. We'll maybe see a chance. Oh, but I wish I
had my wee pistol."

"If ye're gaun there, Dickson, I'm comin' wi' ye," Mrs Morran announced.

Her words revealed to Dickson the preposterousness of the whole
situation, and for all his anxiety he laughed. "Five laddies, a
middle-aged man, and an auld wife," he cried. "Dod, it's pretty
hopeless. It's like the thing in the Bible about the weak things of
the world trying to confound the strong."

"The Bible's whiles richt," Mrs. Morran answered drily. "Come on, for
there's no time to lose."

The door opened again to admit the figure of Wee Jaikie. There were no
tears in his eyes, and his face was very white.

"They're a' round the Hoose," he croaked. "I was up a tree forenent
the verandy and seen them. The lassie ran oot and cried on them from
the top o' the brae, and they a' turned and hunted her back. Gosh, but
it was a near thing. I seen the Captain sklimmin' the wall, and a
muckle man took the lassie and flung her up the ladder. They got inside
just in time and steekit the door, and now the whole pack is roarin'
round the Hoose seekin' a road in. They'll no' be long over the job,
neither."

"What about Mr. Heritage?"

"They're no' heedin' about him any more. The auld Tower's bleezin'."

"Worse and worse," said Dickson. "If the police don't come in the next
ten minutes, they'll be away with the Princess. They've beaten all
Dougal's plans, and it's a straight fight with odds of six to one. It's
not possible."

Mrs. Morran for the first time seemed to lose hope. "Eh, the puir
lassie!" she wailed, and sinking on a chair covered her face with her
shawl.

"Laddies, can you no' think of a plan?" asked Dickson, his voice flat
with despair.

Then