rather returned than awaited the next day under hospitable roofs; and so, if the ice tempted too long, then instead of Andrew at the stable-door by dusk, might not the parlour candle-light show a more awful form?

But Andrew went and returned duly, and all that was safe. New mornings brought new thoughts, new balances of virtue with pleasure. Again was the frosty air exhilarating, sometimes sparkling; and the distant marsh-ice, with its solitary glidings, its swift companionless exploits, triumphs, or discoveries, grew more entrancing than expectation had told; until Cornelius Nepos and his Romans were like to be outweighed. Nay, even through what had seemed most helpful to them, did they utterly lose substance and kick the beam, as when Brennus, leader of the hostile Gauls, threw his barbaric sword into the Roman scales. For, although Hugh Rowland knew well the parish school-hours, and in his shy solitude adhered to these only, if on no other account but a wild shrinking from strangers-nevertheless, suddenly a little troop of parish-scholars surprised him at that very time, and with a bound, a race, a hollow hum, and noiseless rush, flew forth upon the ice that kept him spell-bound, mingling their slides with his. What wonder, indeed that they should be there in school-hours, when he saw them headed by little Will, the sly glebe cow-herdconsidering how idly that urchin was inclined! There, at their head, was this school-hating imp of mischief with smaller imps behind him, not so ignorant as he. But this was not the chief surprise. Most wonderful of all was it to behold amongst them Kyloe-Jock and his dog Bauldy. For, though they both had left the hill-whence, at this season, the very kyloes had departed to some shedded camp, with vast store of turnips-yet both were now punctually, each Sabbath at the church; both were well known to be busily at school, under Andrew's careful supervision, and under the very eye of that schoolmaster who was at once elder, precentor, and Kirksession clerk. Did Jock fear no penal

ties for playing truant from school; did Bauldy entertain no prudent forethought; or could they both be led away by such an inferior creature as little Will, who slunk with deference from the very shyness of Hugh Rowland?

Truly a most unaccountable pair were Kyloe-Jock and Bauldy. To see them in broad day-light again, severed from any imposing charge of wild cattle, away from all labyrinthine obscurity of stackyard or Bogle, was fascination more than ever. Hovering apart, unmixed with them, sliding or practising the incipient skates in independence of their boon or bane, their fear or favour-to be within view of them was yet to be of their circle and company. Bauldy remained a stedfast mark upon the shore, now dim but magnified, now distinct though dwindled back; and for the most part sat on end, to gaze imperturbably, whatever his master's seeming destiny. Luckless might that destiny have been supposed. For, big as was Kyloe-Jock, wearing a shortened tail-coat, that flew behind him as he ran, there were little ones in pinafores, who belonged to his class at school, and who hurried at last away in fear. Even Will the cow-herd boasted over him, that he was "Dults" (.e. the blockhead of his class), though without angering him; and, but for Jock's heedlessness of all this, doubtless Will himself would have gone away. Not that Kyloe-Jock, like little Will, cast any sly glance at the boy Rowland then, as if claiming secrecy from a new accomplice in higher quarters; nor did he laugh at all, like Will; but only with a deep enjoyment rushed again upon the slide, that glittered with him into a length beyond belief, until he well might hoot, and give a yell, turning slowly round-to show Bauldy, perhaps, that he had not utterly vanished. Then, departing farther for another race, back did he come steadily, as if shot forth from a gun, his form a giant's, his breath like smoke, his face bright-red, shooting with incredible speed into ordinary view; yet was not the smooth ice swift enough for him, but he must post up and down

upon it marvellously faster, as on horseback, then fly with his arms along it as with wings like an ostrich; inevitably overtaking in a moment the eagerest effort of that cowherd, whose silly presence could be no more than a stumblingblock and pillow to his magical career. Yet, for all his magical effect, most unassuming was Kyloe-Jock. In some imperceptible natural way he grew familiar to the mere spectator, and took hold upon acquaintance without ceremonies of introduction; so that ere long, neither seeking it nor sought, the boy was with him. Sharing joining, sliding and shouting too, he seemed to have been familiar with Kyloe-Jock for years before; not now even excluded by the dog Bauldy.

Thus did they glide, float, or whirl into a dizzy unison of recklessness, alike superior to the hungry instinct or the trivial fear that took the cowherd home, whether at the sight of the quick darkening of the afternoon, or when the ice gave a crack and a weltering groan, as if to thaw beneath them. As for Jock, he had no fear he could tell, merely by peering up, that it was not so late as it looked, nor would it thaw, but snow. And, when the boy at last misgave himself too greatly to stay longer, though Jock and Bauldy would still have sat or slid on contented, as beings without a home, a dinner, or a dread-they both, nevertheless, forsook their own satisfaction to convoy him on the right way; perhaps at view of a sudden uncertainty that had terrified himsince the right way proved to be of their choosing, so that, if he had not turned when they turned, he would have found himself high upon an unknown hill in the dark. Then Hugh, as they left him alone in the same abrupt unceremonious fashion, still gazed bewildered for home, on the wrong side; till, like a dog himself, he recognized a scent the other way, of the kitchencookery that spoke volumes to him out of the fog, and, next moment, there broke out a part of the house, with roof lost in uncertainty, and endless wall-the bare branch dripping by the

dim gable, the smoke from the chimney striving against a pressure from the viewless sky, and one fire-lit window, hanging in the air, disclosing its inner spectacle of shadows. A sight too changefully dubious still on the brightest background, sometimes too colossal, to be trusted without caution! So he skirts around to reconnoitre like an Indian, to circle in upon it from a corner, ere finally stealing upstairs. He has seen,

in the passage, that the hat and greatcoat are absent as before! The snow that had been prophesied, too, has begun to fall. It is falling faster; falling to make the night earlier; falling and showering and whirring down, to cover the ground deep as of old, to fill the roads, to block the house in, to sever it from the world, and towns, and travellers. Then safely, with book in hand, out of his little new bedroom, he comes down at leisure, and seems by his undisturbed aspect to have been some time in; if at all too late, then seeming not to have heard the dinnerbell, which Nurse Kirsty rang outside; nor to have known, in his studious absorption, that her harsh voice had searched for him beyond, prompted by a fonder anxiety than hers.

It snowed a day or two together, but as yet only to brighten the earth and clear the sky. In the soft radiant intervals, what augmented pleasure! Innocent satisfaction comes even to little Hannah and lesser Joey, brushing the snow from their brief track, to the wheel-ruts outside the gate; enterprizing farther along the road, past the very barn and stable, to smooth by dint of patience one icy groove-even to venture on the ditch below the fleecy elm-tree in the powdered hedge, so tiresomely well known through all disguises from that weary old nursery-window which still keeps the children in sight. For Nurse Kirsty, with her toothachy face in flannel, stands within, ironing or plaiting, sewing or crimping. She could not see over to the marsh: she knew nothing of Cornelius Nepos; still less than the mistress herself, who might at least hear her eldest boy repeat those rules of Ruddiman, to make sure that

he observed his father's grave injunction. Surely neither of them knew anything at all of Kyloe-Jock; and, if any one watched in secret, to lay up a store of new power, or to vindicate the old, it certainly was not the mother, whose chidings were so open at the sharpest, whose purposes were so transparent, however eager. It surely mattered not, besides, that in the shoes of Jock there were holes, and but illpatched fragments of other cloth on his corduroy; while through the cap he wore a blue one with a red knob upon the top, even as a lid over something strange there came up tufts of his hair like dry grass; nor were the hues of his face less vivid by comparison, but even with a more life-like glow went kindling out to his projected ears, which mocked all inclemency of weather. Not that the frost or snow altered him, but he lifted up to them the standard of their measurement; and shoes were to him not for clothing, but of swiftness to slide; caps were as mere adornment, not covers; a coat or plaid less for garment than for pockets or for covering in sleep. Nay, if he were one who could not learn at school, he threw a great light upon it himself, explaining why he was said to be only half-witted. Though with a look askance, suggesting deeper knowledge, well did he inquire rather as if from Bauldy than from Hugh-why then did the folks want him to know the catechism? why turn him back to the Second Primer why be angered if he had played the truant for one afternoon? Whereat Hugh wondered equally with Bauldy. Not that Kyloe-Jock was going any more to play truant in order to be on the ice! It was now only between times that he hurried there, or on the Saturday afternoon. For the master had made his palms so thoroughly to remember his duty of being at school that he still writhed as he showed forth the reminding method. He did so not in mockery of the master, but only earnestly to prove why he must not delay again behind the rest, so long as ice and snow remained. Moreover,

with his mittenless hands, as he clapped them in the frosty weather, he had found out a local secret which he made that an occasion for confiding at the same time. Taking a piece of frosted sedge, and standing solemnly, with tails uplifted to the lurid sunset that glowed behind him like a fire upon the snow, he exhibited himself as the schoolmaster, burning one end of that mimic tawse in silence at the school fire, and coughing as he fixed his eye upon the distance. Then on tiptoe did Jock walk to a stump of paling by the edge where Bauldy sat, and begin to lay successive strokes majestically upon the wood, pausing to cough loud between, till even Bauldy whimpered, drawing back, like to utter a yell-though Hugh, shuddering within, would have laughed. But the frosty air was all echoes then; and from the distant brae, through some change of the snow, came back a new echo, so deliberate, distinct, and grave, repeating everything more awfully, that for once did the uncouth dog take fright. It fled away with an actual yell; swifter, indeed, than the elsewhere-muffled hill deigned to record. But when Bauldy's master stopped, indignant at him, and summoned him vainly back-it was too much to hear the spectral halloo, the ghostly whistle, the very rustling and roar of phantomKyloes that returned, Hugh himself then also fled in terror; nay, when the Kyloe-herd, not the least aghast himself, would have checked the boy's flight in turn, he only quickened it: for back again came graver ejaculations from above, and the hill shouted solemnly Hugh's own name. Then, seeing more need to overtake Bauldy, did Jock take but a sudden step or two to a long glassy path, that bore him smoothly and swiftly, with both hands in his pockets, towards Etherwood school.

Back to school must even Bauldy have retreated. Back to school went Kyloe-Jock after him. Hugh Rowland alone was masterless, wild, and free. And still gently fell the intermittent snow, to separate and shut them in.

CHAPTER IV.

DESTINY MARKS OUT KYLOE-JOCK.

THE Snowy country was but sheeted by degrees; field, hedge, and hill only lost their shapes imperceptibly by fairylike changes to one shrouded mould, under a sky that seemed azure above it all, or amber, or vast with stars. The people could still come with ease to church on that Sabbath when the stranger preached; that tall, and gaunt, and elderly Probationer with one limb mysteriously dif ferent from the other, leaving a round print beside each single footstep to the church-door-who stayed two nights, and went upstairs to bed with an iron sound, depositing but one giant shoe outside the best-bedroom door. A preacher whom, it was said, mysterious powers had bewildered; ever since that day when the gipsies captured him, marking him out to the glance of a great Magician who lived near! On former occasions, in Mr. Rowland's absence, had that memorable "Dominie" come to fill his pulpit, with abstracted mien, and wandering, dream-like habit; and had stood poring into a stray book by the hour, as he did now, and been heard strangely in his chamber, stamping to and fro, and rehearsing his sermon before unseen attentive audiences, or holding dialogue with fancied Co-Presbyters-never destined, poor man, to enjoy the dignity of either. But he had never before so delightfully accorded his sympathy to Mrs. Rowland's concern for the progress of Hugh as he now did snuffing up, at the names of Ruddiman and Cornelius Nepos, an air of inspiration; examining the boy with a pedagogic zeal, and with a technical keenness discovering his errors, which alarmed while it aided. Fain would the Dominie have revelled longer in a congenial delay which the mother pressed, in order that the relentless exercise might have helped his victim. But the snow warned the good Mr. George Simson to betake himself homeward, and Hugh Rowland inwardly rejoiced. The preacher swung his inflexible wooden limb over the back of his small pony, as if he had walked for

ward upon it; and, as Andrew with a demure gravity disposed the skirt of Mr. Simson's great coat above the creature's tail, Mr. Simson waved a hand with dignity, to let the bridle go, and to bid farewell to all. Thereupon, less like a Colossus than the old disproportionate forms in Christmas revel, or Abbots of Unreason upon pictured hobby-horses-one foot avoiding the snow he was borne away into the wastes. Borne away toward his paternal Manse, which stood hard by the ruined Monastery of Kennaquhair," near where the deathless Enchanter abode in his late days. He, also, the Dominie, was borne away immortal; although at that time giving place in Hugh Rowland's mind to hopes of freedom with Kyloe-Jock.

Still was the hoary church distinguishable (and the flaky end-aisle that belonged to Wanton-Walls), beside the furry trees, from the hooded cornstacks and the fleecy hay-rick with one end cloven; where Andrew from the stable would yet mount the ladder, to slice it down with his trenchant blade, under the hanging icicles, past the icesheathed props. The horse Rutherford was champing at his stall, though for the most part idly; and his hollow stamping could be sometimes heard, if but in token of impatience. Hard the times were already, indeed, for all wild creatures without stall or herd; and the shepherd, though at home, sought the unfolded sheep on the braes when they wandered. Birds of all kinds put off their shyness, as if sorry to have been wayward and secret; the hare and rabbit trespassed on the shrubbery, invading the garden by tracks that betrayed a piteous urgency in their boldness; while poisonous berries, alike with culi nary roots or precious barks of fruittrees, were turned to their vital uses. Sweet it was, too, even yet, to see the parlour-window opened, at the violet shadow of little Robin-red-breast on the feathery sill, that Hannah and Joey might feed him, as Hugh could have done once, with crumbs from the snug table near the fire-disturbing though

Robin's visits were now to those forced efforts upon Ruddiman and his despotic rules, which alone brought a shiver at the letting in of the cold. For the others, they could afford to hold their breath, not even whispering lest Robin might take fright: each peck he made, they could be delighted; till, at the triumphant clapping of their hands, he fluttered back from the very curtain within, away to the snow outside. Then with old stories of Babes in the Wood, of children rescued from the snow, of brothers that came back in time, of merchants hurrying home with gifts and packages, and the avalanche that buried the cottage for a time-might Mamma console them when the window was shut, and the curtains drawn. But oh! why for one, had there been Latin rules invented, harder than Draconic, more deserving the sleepy oblivion that often strove against them? Why had there been any Romans, why such an officious recorder as Cornelius Nepos? Why, indeed, any parents except motherswho were so easily convinced that tasks had been got by heart, when they were repeated fresh from the book? They might carefully hear over the rules and the exceptions, but demanded no practical application; and they could see that Cornelius was revised, with dictionary and syntax at hand, yet not know if the meaning grew clearer in retrospect, or only deeper, darker, more confused. Maternal anger itself, how simply appeased, how soon relaxed! It could be talked into conviction of integrity, and argued back to complacent trust in progress. Under such soft supervision the books might, after a little, be put away; and, with lifted face and ready tongue, the gossip might be joined in the little trivial children's gossip which the servants raise even in snow-time; which spreads about the small neighbourhood, more eagerly as it closes smaller in.

Such matter of gossip there was for the little household world of Kirkhill Manse, during the absence of its head in that season of deep winter. The hen-roost had been suffering. Now a

chicken, and now a duck, had gone; till at length the favourite hen, speckled and crested, that had laid eggs so long, was suddenly missing before the dusk of the afternoon. This was after Andrew, speaking of polecats from the planting, or weasels from the dykes, had closed the hutch at night. That precaution had evidently been in vain; it could not, therefore, be weasel or polecat that had done the harm. Nurse Kirsty hinted then at poor old Lucky Wood, the glebe-boy's grandmother, who was on the parish, and would often be coming to the Manse in her old cloak, with stick and basket, to hang about the kitchen for old bones, old rags perhaps even, as Kirsty hinted, for better things. Was she not all the oftener coming in that weather; and were there not foot-steps in the morning toward the hen-house door? Yet Andrew said openly that the steps might be Nurse Kirsty's own': on which supposition of his, clearing away suspicion where it had unduly fallen, little Will had come back, to sleep by Andrew's leave in the bar close by, with a rusty gun all loaded— Will firmly believing with Andrew now, as a greater authority than both of them had agreed, that the real evil-doer was no other than a fox from the firwoods on the hill. No less, in fact, was this great authority than Kyloe-Jock himself with Bauldy. Tracing the marks, scenting the very track, they were aware by what ways the robber had come, lain in ambush, and departed. Yet to no purpose had Will kept guard two nights. The third, as Kyloe-Jock declared, he might watch till morning and hear no sign; but more hens would be taken away, till all were done, or till the snow was melted! Nevertheless had Nurse Kirsty risen to higher scorn, and, speaking of Kyloe-Jock for the first time, had vowed like an oracle that the culprits were Jock himself, and his dog Bauldy. She told of his idle. doings at Halloween, and suspected a truth in the report that at Hogmanay he had led the profane guizards. nodded her head more darkly yet,

She