In a very little afterwards, to my great surprise, a second man
came out from the office. I got up and looked at him through the rails,
and perceived that he was none of my three companions. I had not seen
the other man who came out first so distinctly, owing to my lying down
by the side of the parapet wall on which the rail is placed, in order
that I might not be observed. I was afraid that we were discovered; and,
as soon as the second man had gone up the close, I gave the alarm by
three whistles as the agreed-on signal of retreat and ran up the close
myself. I went down St. John’s Street and came round opposite to the
back of the Excise Office, thinking to meet my companions coming out by
the back way, having escaped from the windows. I remained there for some
little time, and, not meeting with them, I then went directly to Smith’s
house. Finding none of them there, and Mrs. Smith telling me that they
were not yet come in, I went back to the Excise Office by the street,
went down the close, saw the door open, and, finding everything quiet, I
returned to Smith’s, where I saw him and Brown. They accused me of not
having given the alarm as I promised, and said that when they came out
they found that Brodie had gone from his place. I told them what I had
observed, and that I had given the alarm. I remained in Smith’s only a
few minutes, and I did not see Brodie again that night.[9] Brown and I
then went over to the house of one Fraser in the New Town, and sent for
Daniel Maclean, Mr. Drysdale’s waiter. We spent the evening with him
there. There was one Price likewise in company with us, and we remained
together till about two o’clock in the morning. It was near eight
o’clock when I went first to the Excise Office, and it was about
half-an-hour afterwards that I quitted my station. Brodie called next
morning at our room--the room occupied by Brown and me. He came in
laughing, and said that he had been with Smith, who had accused him of
running away the previous evening. I told him that I also thought he had
run off; but he said that he had stood true. Brodie had no great-coat on
when he came to the Excise Office and spoke to me at the rails; he was
dressed in black. When the whistle was given me by him in Smith’s house
in the afternoon Brodie had on the white-coloured clothes which he
usually wore. He afterwards changed them before we went to the Excise
Office. Before I left Smith’s I saw Brodie have a pick-lock in his
hands, and I think we all had it in our hands looking at it. Brodie was
in his own hair. I did not observe him have a wig. We had prepared three
crapes to disguise our faces; one of them was intended for Brown,
another for Smith, and the remaining one for myself, but I did not see
either Brown or Smith put a crape in their pockets that night. [Here the
pistols libelled on were shown to the witness.] These pistols belonged
to Mr. Brodie, and Smith had them with him at the Excise Office. They
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