"So during the governor's absence we brought little Louis from Dinant to Antwerp, where we hid him with some friends of Kate's who are Free Traders, and ran cargoes to the Isle of Man and the Solway shore. Kind they were, stout bold men and appeared to hold their lives cheap enough--also, for that matter, the lives of those who withstood them. "Many of them were Kirkbean men, near kinsfolk of Kate o' the Shore, and others from Colvend--Hislops, Hendersons and McKerrows, long rooted in the place. But when we were in mid-passage, we were chased and almost taken by a schooner that fired cannon and bade us heave to, but the Kirkbean men, who had Kate o' the Shore with them, bade our boat carry on, and engaged the pursuer. We could see the flash of their guns a long distance, and cries came to us mixed with the thunderclap of the schooner's guns. The Colvend men would have turned back to help, but they had received strict orders to put us on shore, whatever might happen, the which they did at Killantringan. "After that" (Miss Irma still went on) "I had so much ado to look after my brother, being fearful to let him out of my hands lest he should be taken from me, that I only heard the names of a place or two spoken among them--particularly the Brandy Knowe, a dark hole in a narrow ravine, under the roots of a great tree, with a burn across which we had to be carried. I remember the rushing sound of the water in the blackness of the night, and Louis's voice calling out, as the men trampled the pebbles, 'Are you there, sister Irma?' "But long before it was day they had finished stowing their cargo. We were again on the march and the men took good care of us, leaving us here according to their orders with plenty of provisions for a week--also money, all good unclipped silver pieces and English gold. They bade us not to leave the house on any account, and in case of any sudden danger to light the fire on the tower head! "'For the present our duty is done,' said one of them, a kind of chief or leader who had carried me before him on his own horse, 'but there may be more and worse yet to do, wherein we of the Free Trade may help you more than all the power of King George--to whom, however, we are very good friends, in all that does not concern our business of the private Over-Seas Traffic'--for so they named their trade of smuggling." "I would like much to see this beacon," I said; "perhaps we may have to light it. At any rate it is well to be sure that we have all the ingredients of the pudding at hand in case of need." CHAPTER IX THE EVE OF ST. JOHN