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planted in the middle of the path, some time before the party came up; and having thus dispos ed of it full in view, he again retired behind the wall, where he stood with his round ruby visage, glaring over it, in the partial obscurity of the night, like the disk of the sun, when in a frosty morning of December, shorn of his beams, he shines red through the smoky atmosphere of the city.

Cleaver and the party had no sooner appeared, than Duncan, clearing his throat, and coughing up his courage with three or four very considerable hems, addressed him from the secure position he had taken.

"Captain," said he, "his honour, Sir Alisander, has sent me out wi' a kebbock an' a whin baps, to be a bite till you and your men, and twa or three bottles o' strong yill, to wash the eatables down wi';-tak' care, tak' care, Captain! or ye'll maybe coup ower the basket, an' hurt your shins, an' brek a' the bottles!"

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Many thanks to Sir Alisander," said Cleaver," it was very considerate of him indeed; the refreshment will be very grateful to the lads. Nay, I don't think I shall be the worse for a mouthful of bread and cheese, and a drop of

yourmale, myself. Pray, come forth, then, My Brouster, and lend a hand in cutting the eatables, and opening the bottles with as much expedition as may be, for we have much business before us, and time presses."

- Duncan was not prepared for such a demand. He nudged some of the other servants who were near him. "Rab," said he, in an under voice, to one of them, "gang awa' out man, and draw the bottles. Ritchie, canna ye budge?what the deil ails ye, man?-dinna ye no hear his honour, the Captain ?"

But Rab shrunk away up the dike-side, and Ritchie followed him; and the rest, taking one look at the grusome Lord, their fears overcame their curiosity, and some beginning to set the example of retreat, the alarm became general, and, without the order they had preserved in their advance, they ran off, pell-mell, with the utmost precipitation.

Seeing himself thus deserted, Mr Brouster's terrors were considerably augmented. But he felt that, consistently with the dignity of his of fice, he could not so easily abandon his post; yet to go beyond the protecting wall, his apprehen

sion told him was impossible. In this dilemma, he saw that a small sacrifice of his importance was absolutely indispensable. Drawing, therefore, from his pocket that badge of his office yclept a cork-screw, which he never willingly parted with to mortal man, he, after two or three of his usual preparatory hems, addressed Bill Handy over the dike, in a rather tremulous voice ::

"Maister William," said he, "ye'll find a muckle knife in the basket among the lave o' the things; and here, tak' haud o' my cork-screw,but tak' special care o't, an' put it in your pouch after you're dune wi't, for it's an auld servant o' mine, and I wadna like to lose it.-An' noo, I maun awa' hame, for they had just toomed the bowl as I cam oot, an' I'll be wanted to mak' anither yane."

"By my honour," said Cleaver, "but the last bowl looked well, though I had no taste of it; and, without any reflection on your excellent ale, I should not be sorry if we had just such another here, for, without flattery, yours is the best punch I ever drank."

But this compliment to his punch-making powlost upon Mr Brouster, who was no soon

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er rid of his cork-screw, than, ducking below the dike, he ran crouching along homewards, like a hare stealing away, with as much expedition as his fat legs could carry his overgrown body, frequently looking backwards, like that timorous animal of chace, and half believing that the warlock Lord himself was pursuing him, in some hideous and terrifying shape.

Handy did the butler's duty so well, that none of the party felt the want of the butler. The bread and cheese were soon discussed, and the bottles emptied, and the basket having been lifted behind the dike, the whole party set briskly forward on their enterprise in admirable spirits and condition. The fears of the servants secured them from the chance of their march being preceded by any alarm that might disconcert their attack.

The Castle of Moatmallard occupied an artificial mound, or, to speak more correctly, a natural mound artificially shaped, standing at the upper extremity of the lake in which the mound itself had probably at one time been an island. Leaving to geologists and antiquarians to determine whether the gradual filling up of the lake might have so far restricted its waters, as to have con

verted the shallows in its neighbourhood into

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marsh; and whether this happened before or after the period of the erection of the castle, which was ascribed to very remote antiquity; we shall proceed to give an account of its state at the time of the attack upon it.

The surrounding marsh was everywhere very Tranh vác deep, and it was, moreover, of such chaotic con

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Its surface was quite impassable,-nay, it was so, treacherous, that it became the grave of many a stray horse and cow, as well as of many an unlucky urchin, who, tempted by the desire of robbing the nests of the numerous aquatic birds building among the reeds, had ventured into it on crazy planks, or old doors, which, sinking under them, had left them to be swal lowed up in its black abyss. There was but one passage of approach to the castle, from the terra firma, and that was by a causeway of twelve or fourteen feet wide, formed of large stones laid together, and running in a straight line directly up to the opening in the outer work.

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