And after them Muckle John, scanning the ground behind them, treading leisurely down the moonlit pass. Suddenly he paused and shivered at what he saw. Then walking on he paused again, and once more about fifty yards away he bent his head, and this time he took up a flutter of blood-stained tartan and peered at it very closely. Presently he grinned like a dog. "Fraser," he said, "what brings Frasers so far from Lovat at such a time--except to carry a message at the end of a dirk? What will Lovat say when he waits for news of the killing of Muckle John and he waits in vain?" He stared at the strip of tartan for a long time, and then setting it on a ledge of rock he cut it into three equal parts. "I doubt," he said grimly, "but there'll be a coronach playing when the last of you comes home." Then making his way to the head of the pass he lay down underneath the shadow of a rock and settled himself to sleep. CHAPTER VII BURIED TREASURE A faint cry of dismay fell from Rob's lips as he met the evil glare in the schoolmaster's eyes. Cameron, too, seemed more than a little shaken at the encounter, though he said nothing, but appeared plunged in thought about the future. In the hollow place where they stood, it was impossible for their prisoner to see anything save the open sky, and a thousand twinkling stars. After a moment Cameron stepped gingerly beside him, and pulled at his bonds. Then, tearing a strip of cloth from off Macaulay's shirt, he bound it round his eyes as though to hide their gleaming malice from sight. "Come, Rob," he said, in a whisper, "there's work for you and me this night. When we have ended we will set him free," and he led the way back to the shore. It was very still and lonesome there with only the soft wash of the loch and the sighing of the wind amongst the trees, and Rob wished the matter well over, and himself back in the comparative security of Lovat's company. "While I dig them up you roll them along the right bank," whispered Cameron, warning him to keep in the depths of the heather, "and lay them down in the shadow of the burn that joins the loch yonder. Should you hear a sound come back and warn me. Och!" he concluded, stepping into the moonlight, "but these are strange times." Then bending his back he sent the spade deep into the sand. "It's fortunate for you that I caught him watching," whispered Rob, full of pride at his discovery. "Man," said Cameron, "do I look sic a gomeral? I knew he was there from the moment I hitched the pony to the tree. Had he gone it would have fallen out just as I planned."