Morag hardly waited to hear so much of this dialogue as I have given,
when she resolved to be the means, if possible, of saving the life
of the poor wounded man, whom the wretches had thus determined
so traitorously to give up to the tender mercies of the Duke of
Cumberland. She had her hand upon the door of the chamber where he
slept, in order to go in and rouse him, when she remembered that,
in this way, her own safety was almost certain to be compromised. She
therefore immediately adopted a plan, which she considered might be
equally effectual for her purpose as regarded the stranger, whilst
it would leave to herself some chance of escape. Slipping on tiptoe
to the outer door, she quietly opened it, and, letting herself out,
she moved quickly round the house, towards a little window belonging
to the room at that end of it, where she knew the wounded man was
lying. It consisted of two small panes of glass, placed in a frame
that moved inwards upon hinges. She put her ear to it, but no sound
reached her save that of deep snoring. Morag pushed gently against
the frame, and it yielded to the pressure. Having inserted her head,
and looked eagerly about, in the hope of descrying the sleeper, by
the partial stream of moonlight that was admitted into the place,
she could discover nothing but the heap of straw in the bedstead in
a dark corner, where, wrapped in a blanket, he lay so buried as to be
altogether invisible. She called to him, at first in a low voice, and
afterwards in a somewhat louder tone, till at length she awaked him.
"Who is there?" demanded he in Gaelic.
"Rise! rise, and escape!" said she, in a low but distinct voice,
and in the same language; "Your liberty! your life is in danger! Up,
up, and fly from this house!" Having said this, she retreated her
head a little from the window, to watch the effect of her warning,
so that the moon shone brightly upon her countenance, and completely
illuminated every feature of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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