With quick, long strides the gipsy proceeded straight across the wintry heath. She turned neither to the left nor the right, and moved more like a ghost than a human being. On reaching the wood, she plunged into it, moving still rapidly in the direction of Derncleugh. After travelling thus for some time, she came at length to the ruined tower where Bertram had previously spent the night in concealment from the smugglers. Producing a key from her pocket, the gipsy opened the door and led the way in. She offered Bertram and Dinmont food and drink, and fearing to offend her, they took a little. "And now," she said, "ye must have arms; but use them not rashly; take captive, but save life; let the law have its own--he must speak ere he die." She then supplied the two with loaded pistols, and started afresh through the wood in the direction of Warroch Point. She led them by a long and winding passage almost overgrown with brushwood, until they suddenly found themselves by the seashore. They were soon outside the secret cave. "Follow me as I creep in," she said. "I have placed the firewood so as to screen you. Bide behind it for a space, till I say-- _The hour and the man are both come_. Then run in on him, take his arms and bind him tight." And having said so, she crept in upon her hands and knees, followed by Bertram and his friend. As they were creeping in, Dinmont, who was last of the party, felt his leg caught by someone from behind. He with difficulty suppressed a shout, and was much relieved when he heard a voice behind him say: "Be still, I am a friend--Charles Hazlewood." He had been sent after the others by Lucy Bertram and Miss Mannering, and had only overtaken them as they were making their way into the cavern. Meg Merrilies, on reaching the interior, was greeted by Dirck Hatteraick with a curse in his old fashion--the smuggler had been expecting her, and was waiting with anxiety for news of his band. The only light within the cave was from a charcoal fire, the dark- red glow from which gave a dismal and unearthly appearance to the smuggler's hiding place. Bertram and his friends had advanced far enough to enable them to stand upright, and concealed from the view of Hatteraick, they listened to his conversation with the gipsy. "Have you seen Glossin?" he said to her. "No," replied Meg Merrilies; "you've missed your blow, ye blood- spiller! and ye have nothing to expect from the tempter." "What am I to do, then?" said the smuggler, with a Dutch oath. "Do?" answered the gipsy. "Die like a man, or be hanged like a dog. Didn't I tell ye, when ye took away the boy Harry Bertram, in spite of my prayers, that he would come back again in his twenty- first year? You'll never need to leave this." "What makes you say that?" asked Hatteraick. And Meg, who now threw some flax upon the fire, which rose in a bright flame, answered: "_Because the hour and the man are both come_."