shaking it more ominously, when, to Mrs. Rowland, before the boy Hugh, she hinted that Kyloe-Jock was on the parish too-more starved than Lucky Wood herself; nay, but a half-natural in wits, by birth even something worse -an evil example and a bad companion, of whom the Minister ought to hear when he came home! These things, in greater privacy, did the boy, roused to resistance by Kirsty's dark insinuations, explain and reconcile to the maternal judgment. He even extolled KyloeJock, and used cunning eloquence to show him to be the only help in this case worthy of being depended on ;thus, at least, paving the way for security against Kirsty, should she say, before a higher bar, that Kyloe-Jock's first appearance about the manse had been developed farther in secret than the supreme law allowed. He did not, however, disclose the full knowledge which he already possessed of KyloeJock's purpose to constitute himself, unsolicited, the protector of the Manse, and to bring the true depredator to justice by a competent exercise of his own energy in defence of his own credit.

How suddenly had Hugh's sensitiveness to the touch of strangers left him! That very evening in secret, in the dark back-court behind the peat-stack, did he even crouch in company with the glebe cow-herd, to await the coming of Kyloe-Jock and Bauldy on their mystic purpose. Neither were their plans made clearly manifest when they came. No sooner on the household premises, indeed, than Bauldy took up the ground as Jock's own, to be sentinelled against the most customary frequenter or settled occupant. Yet Bauldy followed at a whisper, to consider alone with Jock those places he examined-to peer forth with him from that opened shrubbery-wicket, where he looked toward the dark hill; and, even when he would apparently have left it open, to counsel in some unaccountable way, that it should be shut again. This was a wicket which the thoughtless cow-herd had purposely

opened. So opening it, each fruitless night he had watched, in order that no barrier might interrupt the approach of Reynard. At that did Kyloe-Jock uncouthly shrug his shoulders up. Turning to Will the cowherd, he eyed him with an eldritch grin; and there was something weirdly in the silence wherewith he put aside that glebeboy's advices, stepping back to the sheltered nook of the peat-stack, as if to muse alone in a warm place. Notwithstanding which, when Bauldy curled himself satisfied to his master's feet, and Will leant deferentially by, with little Rowland at hand, Jock condescended to spend a certain interval in easy colloquy, as if to await the time for action in leisurely discourse. Compared with the knowledge he imparted, what was that of letters? Without parents, it seemed, or effect of teaching, what uninherited lore was his-as if to claim obeisance from patriarchs before a Druid not anointed! He seemed even about to perform some sacrifice, rather than to slay. Meanwhile he turned his thoughts aside-reasoning of adders, how to deal with them in contest, how to prize their cast-off skins; of the water-rat, that would defy the weasel; of the toad, and of that dreadful creature from whose touch no mortal survives-the Ask or Eft, which like a tiny crocodile is seen amphibious about lonely pools; also concerning the horsehairs which in water can be converted, through certain observances, into living eels. Of Bauldy he spoke-how Bauldy intercepted rabbits from their holes; nay, how in the course of that last summer Bauldy had been tempted to seize a full-grown hare. For it had lain staring close at him; and was so strong, squealing so loud, that it proved all the dog could do to hold her; and Jock had been terrified, thinking maybe it might be auld Ailie Mathie from Boon, that was reckoned to be uncanny in her disguises. "Megsty, man-Aih, Wull!" he said, with a fresh emotion, "Wasna I put to 't that time-but gin I hadna done something quick, the keeper might hae been in the plantings and hear't

her, it was siccan a clear simmer-daythen a' owre wi' Bauldy, puir falla'. So I just down wi' my staff, and up wi' a palin' stab, and fair felled her wi' the sharp side o't ahint the lugs o' her, till she was quiet. Hoo hoo hoo! what think ye I thocht that time?" chuckled he wildly: "geyan fear't though I was?" But when Will could not answer, Jock pursued. "Man, I thocht the hare's ee' gat a look o' auld Ailie's, the vera gait au'd see't her sleepin' i' the Kirk, aetime I was there-wi' her mooth an' her ee' open, though the Minister was thrang ca'in' at the De'il an' her! Weel, what did I do, but I buiry't the hare in-under a whin buss, an' I set Bauldie to watch the kyloes his 'lane-an' me awa' owre the hills to Boon, for nae ither errant but to ken gif auld Ailie was to the fore yet. Man, Wull, wasna I glad when I seed the auld donnart body sittin' ' the ingle like her ordinar', thrang at the stockin'-needles, an' girnin' at the neebors' bairns? The very minute I was gotten back to the hill, didna I howk the hare up in a jiffy, an' skinned her, and kennelt a bit fire, down by the burn in a lown spot, and pits her birlin' roond atowre't to roast, on three sticks like a tinkler's. I eatit her. At ony rate, Bauldy an' me eatit her, stoop and roop. Aih! what wad the Laird hae said? or Maviswud o' Maviswud? or auld Jock Murray o' Wanton-Wa's hiseven? Hoo, hoo, hoo!" And more eldritch and weirdly still was the laughter of Jock, than his solemnity.

sel',

snow, pressing it together without effect, but nodding conviction at this sign that it was frosty still, so that the shower which now fell scantily and slowly would not long continue. Thereafter he asked to see the old iron rat-trap, which, as Will had admitted, was in the barn; and took it silently, going off with it alone, while his sentinel dog remained. This was to the end that he might set down the trap in some particular spot, beyond the corner of the wall, near a spreading fir-shrub there, which stood like an ambush toward the back-yard. He came back from thence, stooping along the wall, below the ivy and below the barn-eaves, into the gutter close by, where the hen-house door stood close, with its hutch half-raised as usual. It was seen then, that from his pocket he had been sowing upon his way some mysterious seed; the last grains of which he sprinkled out carelessly by that place of egress for the fowls at dawn, and returned thoughtfully to his former shelter. Faster the snow fell for a little, and wavered and floated again, till it came to a close, and there was through the dusk a soft hoary bloom again, with the white tops of things more discernible than before, and the woolly fibres of the trees reaching at the wan marblings of the sky. A sigh might have been thought to come in the stillness from the breast of Kyloe-Jock. It was the glebe cow-herd, however; who doubted, with a shiver, that the fox would ever come in so cold a night.

Suddenly Jock rose, and, with him, Bauldy uncurling himself sat up on end. They looked up into the dark, as at the sound of a hushing whisper that passed above; where the wan half-face of the moon had ceased to strive with the moving blackness, but downward from her place came wavering some great stray snow-flakes, that lighted here and there upon the peats, the ground, and the bristling hair of Bauldy. It was as if they saw in these the scattered feathers of some ravaged fowl in the upper world, and looked at each other with significance accordingly. Then the Kyloe-herd took a handful of the former

an' the stank an' the whins, ben intil his hole. There's nae less nor nine holes o' them up bye. Though ye maunna think they're to be countit by holes. Na-they hae aye a front door, an' a back door, an' may be a bit side air-winnock or a keek-hole-an', when the t'ane door's here, t'ither's maist likely a quarter o' a mile ben the wud. I'm thinkin' there's just aboot three auld grown-up he-foxes a'thegither, the 'noo, on this side the big plantin'-there's ane a broon colour, anither red, an' there's anither sandy. I wadna wonder gin it's the sandy ane. An', gif it's him, man, he'll juist come, and come, an' better come, though there wasna nae need for't-as lang as the scent winna lie, an' the hunt isna out. Mony a time has he been huntit, too! Man! oo've seen aboon twa-score dowgs a' efter him full cry, an' Maviswud o' Maviswud, an' the Laird himsel', and Baillie o' Mellerstain, an' sweerin' Jock Murray o' Wanton-Wa's like a vera deevil, as they'd been dragoons efter yae auld covvenannter, as they ca'd it langsyne-an' in a moment they lost scent o'him till a' was dumb, ilka yowlin' tyke lickit-back, ilka red-coat glowerin' at the other, till at last they rade hame in the darkening to drink, as toom an' fushionless as bourtree whistles. An' efter a', gif he did come, what could ye do wi' him?" Almost dreadfully did Jock ask that question, which none could answer. Mournfully he went on, scoffing down the paltry purposes of glebe-Will.

"Gun? Na, na. As for yon bit ratton-trap, he'll juist awa' wi't, an' the chucky forbye, like a teegger doon the brae, aff to the neist-hand cover for hame. An', but for what's said at the Manse here-it wadna been Jock, far less Bauldy, that wad hae made or meddle't wi' auld Saunders, wha has gotten faes eneuch, puir lad. Man, couldna ye hae pitten yersel' in his place, withoot help o' huz twa that kens him sae weel! Ye've comed oot o' yeer hole, oo'll say, doon by the pailin', across the bog, and up the dyke side-no haein' pykit a bane this twal' hours and mair,

in siccan yaupish weather, sin' ye fand the last deed craw i' the ditch-an' what div ye see first, when ye skirt ahint the hen-houses? A yett wide open, that uised for to be aye steekit close. Oo'll say ye e'en gang through, for a' that. What see ye neist, on the vera spot ye're to pass, or e'er ye win to the hen-house door-or whaur the first hens boo't to come scartin' oot by day-break, as ye lig in wait aneth the mirkest bield o' a fir-buss-what but the hatch-hole lifted like a trap itsel', and the grund or the snaw steered an' smuithed again, like 's Ann'ra the Bethral' hissel' had howkit a grave inunder? Houts! ye're no sic a gowk an' a gomeral as juist to gang loupin' in! Na, I'se warrant ye see a heap glegger, ma man Wull, nor ye div the' noo-ye see ilka track ye've made in the snaw yersel, an' ilka spot that's withoot a track. The lee'-lane thing ye dinna see-it's hoo the snaw's sel' can hae the hairt to work against ye!"

Finally did the uncouth speaker grow silent, plunging his hands deep from the cold, which made the cow-herd's teeth chatter, till he urged their departure to the barn. There even the dog burrowed into the straw, as if heedless of further watching; while his master drew the doors as close behind them, as if the soundest sleep were the best; and the boy himself hurried gladly back within the house, to forget the ineffectual sight of their conclave, that seemed idle after all, in warmth and sleep.

Coldly, silently did the morning break, to no apparent consequence but that of troubled recollections about other things. The blue light dawned on Ruddiman's dull boards, where the book had been last thrown before the bedroom window-blind; and the first demand was by its early warning to repair past neglect. For the first voice was that of Andrew at the back gate, mounting on the horse Rutherford; which neighed and stamped as Andrew left brief word with Nurse Kirsty, how he was off to Thirlstane post-office for the expected letter, but would bring the groceries, the merceries, and what wares besides were wanted.

It was only as a dream that the earlier cock-crow had been followed by alarms and noises, back into roost, stable-yard, byre, and stye, with Rutherford already neighing at his stall. All this was a something that had relapsed to the usual. sounds, and had turned on the other side, as it were, to repose again-by no means courting the new daylight. And, even now that the daylight had come, the barn doors were still snugly closed, as if on sluggards-so that Hugh had to conclude that the night's enterprise had failed. As he listens, however, it ever and anon grows plainer that Bauldy by fits was barking within the barn-a signal which seems to have some meaning, and which tells Hugh to make haste.

When they came out, and gathered again in private, Kyloe-Jock even stretched his arms and yawned. It was Bauldy that had sprung round the corner of the wall, and came sniffling along from it to the still-closed wicket, scraping there eagerly, making the snow fly behind him, to get through, or to creep under.

Those marks of paws, of dragging-might indeed be his. But at the end of the train of barley-seed which Jock had sowed, round the corner, near the shelter of the young spruce-fir, what scattered feathers, and stray birddown amongst the snow! Some specks of blood in it, too-and the trap, the buried trap, is there no longer-and, the moment that the gate is opened, like an arrow loosed from the bow did Bauldie dart away across the snowy paddock, by the white churchyard, down the stile, down the brae toward the hollow below the hill!

Away after him, shouting at the fox's traces confused with his, flew scarce less swift the two herds, scarce less eager the single boy. So singular were those traces, that they soon passed beyond mistake. First scuffling on, over the snow, then plucking it crisp from bare ground in patches with long bounds between, they plunged into the deeper places, as from a force that had bounded still on, indeed, and had sprung up again in desperate energy, but

lifted whole loads away with them, tearing out the very earth and pebbles in their course. At length had they struggled; till they had rolled like a ball altogether, and gone rolling till they vanished. Here lay the ravished chicken, and there ran Kyloe-Jock, and Will; while in the distance below, round a knoll of purest white, still snuffed and searched and hovered the disappointed Bauldy. disappointed Bauldy. A snow-wrapped block of stone it seemed, or some miniature of an avalanche, that rested there as a centre of the dog's bewildered barking, of his circling, of his retreating for aid. All else but his own marks was spotless; save where along the hill above, with a hoary sprinkling on the upper plumes, gloomed the dark of the pine-wood behind its far-ranged columns. But Kyloe-Jock spurned the fleecy ball with his foot, and Will the cow-herd smote it into a powdery cloud, while through the powder rushed in Bauldy, snapping, struggling, yelling painfully in the struggle with a form more savage than himself. Fettered as was the fox, half-enveloped in a wreath around the snow-ball that clogged his hind-foot, his wicked eye gleamed out, as he gnashed his sharp muzzle into Bauldy's throat. Nay, Bauldy was so vanquished that he turned, dragging both with a convulsive spring upon his master, whose blow from a mighty bludgeon was imminently required. Blows rained upon the enemy then; a cow-cudgel wreaked its revenge upon him; there were stones from the nearest dyke that mauled him, out of mere frantic impulse; Bauldy, taking fresh courage, ran in again, and bit and shook the motionless hind-leg of the helpless foe. He was silent still— dying, as it seemed, in grim silence; stretching himself out; muffling himself in his white mantle, as it were, and heaving the last breath, quite dead: so that the others would then have taken him up in triumph, had not Kyloe-Jock pushed them back. He even gave Bauldy a kick away, as the dog shook the carcass. Yet raising a hedge-stake he had pulled close by, he came down. with it one mighty stroke behind the

head, like an executioner, and for a moment, as the blow descended, that small yellow eye might have been seen to open. It quivered, it shrank: but never closed again. It stared out wide, from the attitude of a last snarling turn. Then a second time the blow fell, even a third : but all was quiet.

Kyloe-Jock looked grim at the others, leaning on the hedge-stake. He drew the cuff of that tail-coat across his face, as it manifestly had often been drawn before, and surveyed the slain; not unheroically.

"It's the sandy ane," he said. "Aih man! But he's been teugh. He juist grippit-on to life like roots o' trees. Ye'd hae thocht the haill feck o' us was to dee, afore he wad dee; an', efter a', it wasna huz that could hae trickit the likes o' him. It was the snaw, man! I'se warrant he had ten times the glegness, an' the kenninness, o' the haill

heap o' us--Bauldy an' a'. Trap, quo' ye! Hoo! what was a ratton-trap to him? My certy, hit wadna lang hae been a fash to Sanders.-Oot o' that, Bauldy, I tell ye, ye vicious brute! I'm thinkin', callants, the less oo' say aboot this, the better. For Maviswud an' the Laird, an' a heap mae, 'll miss him geyah sair!"

Doubtless the fox was safely deposited away, by him and Will. As for the boy-whether or not there came on him from those words a chill remembrance of very different speeches in Cornelius Nepos-he hung his head even as he told at home, in part, how accused innocence had been vindicated. Ere long, Andrew came riding back from Thirlstane, and brought the expected letter. It appointed the day when Mr. Rowland would certainly return home. To be continued.

"I GIVE this key to the kelpie's keeping,"

He cried, as the key smote the deep lake's breast;

He left her kneeling, in rueful weeping,

A rayless cell's despairing guest.

Away rushed the steed, and the crow that was winging

Its flight to the distant wood was passed;

When morning dawned keen spurs were stinging

The courser's flanks like a frosty blast.

For knight and lady are vassals calling; No voice replies from garden or bower; Again round the castle is darkness falling, But search is vain in turret and tower.

Year after year rolled by without telling

The fearful deed one cell could disclose; Her bones lie white in the dungeon dwelling

The knight for his lovely lady chose. That key is yet in the kelpie's keeping;

He faithfully grasps that iron trust; He heard her rueful cries and weeping, But said to himself, "What I must, I must."

THE events which have recently taken place in Syria have again brought the eastern question prominently into public notice, and in such a manner as to draw attention to the position of the Christians in Turkey. It is, therefore,

not so much our object to discuss the eastern question in its present aspect, as to consider the social and political condition of the Christian subjects of the Sultan. The investigation is attended with peculiar difficulty on account of the