valley, to which it must be a tributary, when an object caught his eye that immediately arrested his attention. This was no other than the very travelling trunk he had so particularly remarked the night before, with the letters S. H. M. in brass nails upon its lid; and among a variety of other strange things scattered up and down, he descried three other trunks, of different sizes, all of them with the same letters.

Very disagreeable ideas now crowded upon his imagination, and sensible how dangerous his situation was, he was about to make a hasty retreat, when, as he moved away, a bright object glanced upon his eye from amongst some branches of brushwood, lying over the rafters at the farther end of the hut. As he looked with more attention, he thought it resembled a silver button. The brushwood seemed to be pressed down just in that particular spot, as if from a superincumbent weight, and he was seized with an irresistible desire to ascertain what was there. He lifted up 3 small fragment of lighted fir, and proceeded to satisfy himself. His eyes rested upon a ghastly human face, which being turned downwards, stared at him from among the withered branches.

He started involuntarily, and put his hand to his gun, believing it was some one with whom he should have to contend; but it moved not, and he discovered, with the utmost horror, that the eyes, though wide open, were fixed in death.

Availing himself of a large chest standing underneath, he mounted, and raised his head and shoulders through between the rafters, and, holding up his light, he discovered the dead body of an officer in full regimentals. He put his hand on the corpse, and felt that it was still so warm as to indicate the murder to have been very re

cent.

He had hardly time to give it a cursory examination, when he was alarmed by the sound of numerous voices, and the noise of feet running towards the hut. All chance of retreating unperceived was cut off. What was to be done? To be discovered in his present situation would ensure his murder, as his single fowling-piece could have been but of small avail against many armed

There was nothing for it but immediate 'concealment. He had not a moment to deliberate. The gang were almost at the door. He extinguished his torch, and, drawing himself and

his gun hastily up between the rafters, he laid himself at length by the dead body on the birch boughs.

He had hardly crept out of sight, before a party of seven or eight Highlanders came hastily into the hovel, vociferating in Gaelic, and exhibiting every appearance of having made a precipitate retreat into their concealment. They were all armed, most of them with long guns, and all with broad-swords, dirks, and pistols, and at their head was Alexander Macgillivray. From the spot where he lay, he commanded a sufficiently distinct view of the scene below, through the interstices of the dry birch boughs, which sufficiently concealed him. The men hastily shut and barred the door behind them, as if apprehensive of pursuit, and, drawing around the fire, they continued their clamorous talk in Gaelic.

"Winna ye no gie ower wi' yere damned Erse, and let a body ken what ye're saying?" cried one of them, whom Amherst immediately recognized as the person, with whom Alexander Macgillivray had held so much close converse in his way down the glen, when returning from the deer hunt, and whose dress, as we before remarked, par

took of both the Highland and Lowland costume, and whose grey coat, and old hat covered with meal dust, and his red ferret eyes, that seemed almost burnt out by his long vigils over the hopper, now satisfied Amherst as to what was his ostensible profession. "Will ye no gie ower wi' yere Erse, wi' a devil till ye?”

"Hoot aye, John Forbes," said a savage-looking fellow, with long tangled red hair, and who had been speaking when he interrupted him; "hoot aye, man; I was only makin' an observe till Maister Alexander, that the fellow's horse had served him weel, or he wadna hae won awa' sae easy, sorrow gae wi' him!”

"Troth, Willy Davison," replied Forbes, "ye might hae made a better shot. An' mair na that, gin ye had na stappit in afore me, just as I was gawin to let drive at him, I wad hae turned him heels uppermost aff the beast, afore he wan a hunder yairds. Ye saw hoo I coupit the offisher chield about an hour before. Fient a word he ever spak' mair."

"You did that job very neatly, miller," said Alexander Macgillivray; "but since you speak

of him, let us examine his waulees, for our watch

These

called us off so suddenly to this less fortunate ad-
venture, that we had not time to ascertain the
profits of the first. Ewan Maclauchan," said he
to another man, "reach over behind that trunk,
and pull out the red-coat's saddle-bags.
*Sidaran Dearag seldom carry much of the king's
gold in their bags, however much they may wear
on their backs. But should this fellow turn out
to be the paymaster man, who came from the
south with money for the garrison at Inverness,
his luggage may be a prize worth all the trouble
we have had to-night."

A pair of small saddle-bags was now handed into the circle, and Alexander Macgillivray, taking them upon his knee, began to attempt to undo them.

“There's a padlock there," said the miller, rising from the ground; "stay a bitty, till I gang and ripe the chield's pouch, till I see whether I can find ye the key.”

Amherst, now anticipating an immediate discovery, prepared to make desperate resistance, and to sell his life as dearly as he could. But he was fortunately relieved for the time, by Macgillivray calling out to the miller, "No, no, John;

Σ