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to his brother's saddle-bow, and continued to walk with his hand on the pummel, maintaining an earnest conversation with him in Gaelic. Amherst watched them with some anxiety; but as well as he could guess from the expression of their countenances, the natural brother seemed to be giving Lochandhu some information to which the other listened with great attention; and from all he saw, he had no reason to believe that he formed any part of the subject of their conversation.

Some time before they reached the house of Lochandhu, Alexander Macgillivray and his party left them. The young Highlander who had spoken to Amherst at the bothy moved off along with them, but, catching his eye as he was going, he reminded him by a significant look of the caution he had given him.

Lochandhu having now initiated Amherst into all the mysteries of Highland hunting, left him more frequently to seek his own amusement. This was a source of great satisfaction to him, as he was glad to be left to the private indulgence of those sad but interesting thoughts, he neither had the power nor the will to banish from his mind. Soon satiated with the murder he committed on the in

nocent inhabitants of the woods, the waters, and the mountains, he now followed the various sports they yielded rather as an apology for being alone, than from any pleasure he derived from such slaughter. The wild, romantic, and solitary scenes he wandered in, afforded him so much delight, that, expert as he now was in threading their mazes, he would often dispense even with the attendance of O'Gollochar, that he might indulge undisturbed in the enjoyment of those reveries they originated.

In this manner he sauntered down one evening to the lake, where he had been taught to expect a shot at a flock of wild swans. As he lay concealed by some bushes growing on the margin, near the lower end of it, he perceived something floating towards the sandy beach. It was already Talmost dusk, and for some time he paid little retgard to it, having supposed it to be a log of wood. As the natural swell of the water, that to set towards him, brought it nearer, he was

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surprised to see a human head. For some minutes he was led to believe that it was a man swimming for pleasure, and floating on his back, his face being upwards. But it advanced, and a wave soon threw the lifeless body endwise against

the sand, where it rested, with the lower extremities still in the watertela) wou on an groom silt

Amherst went towards it but what was his horror when, upon closer inspection, he recogniz ed the features, though much disfigured, of the young Highlander whose life he had saved a few days before, and who had afterwards taken occasion to give him the mysterious warning to beware of Alexander Macgillivray? vor mehmon

His body bore too evidently the marks of a violent death, to leave him a moment in doubt that he had been murdered. He seemed not to have yielded to his fate without a struggle. The eyes were open, and the teeth set together, and great part of his dress was rent off, the sleeve being entirely gone from the right arm. The marks of several severe blows appeared on the head, chest, and arms. One finger of the left hand was nearly separated, as if by some sharp instrument, and both hands were firmly clenched, and contained portions of long red hair, as if torn from the head of some one with whom the murdered man had been in desperate conflict; and the wrist of the right arm was deeply marked above and below, apparently by the teeth of his opponent. The neck

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showed the blackened traces of strangulation, as it were by the gripe of a strong hand, and a stab in the region of the heart, like that of a dirk, seemed to have completed the dreadful work.

Amherst was so shocked by this unexpected sight, and particularly after recognizing the person, that he stood for some moments unable to act. It instantly occurred to him that the young man must have been observed, and suspected, at the time he conveyed the warning to him, and that it was upon his account he had died; and the sad spectacle he now beheld, seemed to present a type of the fate that hung over himself. So strongly was he affected by this posthumous warning of the unfortunate young man, that he looked unconsciously around him, in expectation of seeing the murderers about to rush upon him. Recollecting himself, however, he dragged the corpse beyond the water-mark, and laying it on a bank where it was hid by the bushes, he hied him homewards.

As he was approaching the house, he met Lochandhu, accompanied by his brother, and followed by one or two men, hurrying away as if on some urgent expedition. They were so engaged

in conversation, that they did not observe him till they were just upon him.

"When did his coach arrive, Sandy ?" he heard Lochandhu ask as they approached.

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"Two or three hours ago," replied the other.

They will soon be all quiet; for Ewan heard them say they were to be off early in the morning; and the coach was left at the door with the trunks and luggage strapped on, just as it came in. But hush! there's somebody coming."

Amherst felt great repugnance to communicate his discovery of the murdered body to Lochandhu in presence of his brother. Begging of him, therefore, to return with him towards the house, he related to him in private, and in a few words, what he had seen, betraying the utmost horror as he did so. Lochandhu was moved during his nar.ration, and eyed him with a scrutinizing look, as if endeavouring to read what impression had been made upon him by the circumstance. Then, af ter Amherst had finished speaking:

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"Aye," said he, with a shrug, " poor fellow! -some drunken scuffle, I have no doubt.-He was given to quarrelling. But these things, though now becoming more rare than they were, are still

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