n aboot finished," said McCubine as he came up. He
spoke in a low voice, for although there was no probability of any one
being near, they were so accustomed to expect danger because of the
innumerable enemies who swarmed about the country, that caution had
almost become a second nature.

Without further converse the four men set to work in silence. They
completed a circular heap, or cairn, of stones three or four feet high,
and levelled the top thereof to serve as a table or a pulpit at the
approaching assembly. In front of this, and stretching towards a
sloping brae, they arranged four rows of very large stones to serve as
seats for the communicants, with a few larger stones between them, as if
for the support of rude tables of plank. It took several hours to
complete the work. When it was done Andrew Black surveyed it with
complacency, and gave it as his opinion that it was a "braw kirk,
capable o' accommodatin' a congregation o' some thoosands, mair or
less." Then the two men, Gordon and McCubine, bidding him and the
shepherd good-night, went away into the darkness from which they had
emerged.

"Whar'll they be sleepin' the nicht?" asked the shepherd, as he and
Andrew turned homeward.

"I' the peat-bog, I doot, for I daurna tak' them hame whan the dragoons
is likely to gie us a ca'; besides, the hidy-hole wull be ower fu' soon.
Noo, lad," he added, as they surmounted a hillock, from which they had
a dim view of the surrounding country, "gang ye doon an' see if ye can
fin' oot onything mair aboot thae sodgers. I'll awa' hame an see that
a's right there."

They parted, the shepherd turning sharp off to the right, while the
farmer descended towards his cottage. He had not advanced above half
the distance when an object a little to the left of his path induced him
to stop. It resembled a round stone, and was too small to have
attracted the attention of any eye save one which was familiar with
every bush and stone on the ground. Grasping a stout thorn stick which
he carried, Andrew advanced towards the object in question with catlike
caution until quite close to it, when he discovered that it was the head
of a man who was sleeping soundly under a whin-bush. A closer
inspection showed that the man wore an iron headpiece, a soldier's coat,
and huge jack-boots.

"A dragoon and a spy!" thought Andrew, while he raised his cudgel, the
only weapon he carried, and frowned. But Andrew was a merciful man; he
cou