’Twas true, I was afraid, but I had given no signs of fear, and he had little cause to speak of it. "Nay," I said haughtily, "I will not move from your side. It were a dastardly thing to leave you, and the two of us together may account for some of the fiends. Besides there is as much chance of life here as out on the braeside, where a man can be seen for miles." He gripped me fiercely by the arm so that I almost cried out for pain, and his voice came shrill and strange. "Gang where I tell ye, ye puir fool. Is this a time for sinfu’ pride o’ honour or mettle? Ye know not what evil is coming upon these men. Gang quick lest ye share it also." Something in his voice, in his eye, overcame me, and I turned to obey him. As I went he laid his hand on my head. "The blessing o’ man availeth little, but I pray God that He be ever near you and your house, and that ye may soon hae a happy deliverance from all your afflictions. God bless and keep ye ever, and bring ye at the end to His ain place." With a heart beating wildly between excitement and sorrow I found the narrow crevice, and crept upward till I came to the turning which led to the air. Here I might have safely hid for long, and I was just on the point of going back to the old man and forcing him to come with me to the same place of refuge, when I heard the sound of men. From my vantage-ground I could see the whole cave clearly and well. I could hear the noise of soldiers fumbling about the entrance, and the voice of the informer telling the way. I could hear the feet stumbling along the passage, the clink of weapons, and the muttered words of annoyance; and then, as I peered warily forth, I saw the band file into the cave where sat the old man alone. It was as I expected: they were some twenty men of my cousin’s company, strangers to me for the most: but what most occupied my thoughts was that Gilbert was not with them. "By God, they’re off," said the foremost, "and nothing left but this auld dotterel. This is a puir haul. Look you here, you fellow," turning to the guide, "you are a liar and a scoundrel, and if your thick hide doesna taste the flat o’ my sword ere you’re five hours aulder, my name’s no Peter Moriston. You," this to the old man, "what’s your name, brother well-beloved in the Lord?" At their first coming he had risen to his feet and taken his stand in the middle of the cave, by the two great stone shafts which kept up the roof, for all the word like the pillars in some mighty temple. There he stood looking over their heads at something beyond, with a strange, almost pitying smile, which grew by degrees into a frown of anger.